Armenia-Azerbaijan rapprochement opens new opportunities for East-West ties, says Kazakh president
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Kazakhstan's President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has welcomed the reconciliation process between Armenia and Azerbaijan, noting that rapprochement between the two countries after decades of conflict creates new prospects for developing ties between East and West.
Tokayev made the remarks during the plenary session of the seventh summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA), held in Baku, Azerbaijan.
The Kazakh president proposed jointly developing a transport connectivity strategy within the organization.
He said that the region, located at the crossroads of Eurasian transport routes, has significant opportunities for infrastructure development. In Tokayev’s assessment, common transport corridors are among the effective tools for building long-term trust between states, while highways, railways and ports connect not only economies but also peoples.
The proposed strategy would make it possible to explore the potential of the region’s key international transport routes. Tokayev named the Belt and Road Initiative, the North–South International Transport Corridor, the Middle Corridor and the TRIPP initiative among them.
According to the Kazakh president, political will and economic potential enable the organization to support the implementation of major transnational projects.