Closer cooperation of Asian countries in food and especially energy security needed, Foreign Minister Idrissov

17:04, 29 March 2013

ASTANA. March 29. KAZINFORM - Today as part of his official visit to Tajikistan the Kazakh Foreign Minister of Kazakhstan Yerlan Idrissov took part in the 11th meeting of the Foreign Ministers of the Cooperation Dialogue in Asia (Council of Foreign Ministers) in Dushanbe.

Key objectives of the Dialogue such as promotion of mutually beneficial economic collaboration in Asia as well as the expansion of trade and strengthening the region's competitiveness in the world market coincide with the objectives of the economization of foreign policy, put forward before the Foreign Ministry by theHead of State. Participation in the Council of Foreign Ministers has become fruitful addition to the meetings of E. Idrissov within his Central Asian tour, during which he discussed the issues of trade, economic and investment cooperation with the leadership of the region.

In his speech at the Council of Foreign Ministers the Kazakh diplomat called for increased cooperation among Asian States in the quality of water resources management, food and especially energy security. "According to the UN, in the world there are today 1.5 billion people having no access to electricity and 2.4 billion have still not been provided with fuel resources ... That is why Kazakhstan has chosen the theme "Energy for the future" for the international exhibition called EXPO-2017, said E.Idrissov. He also invited all the participants to take part in the coming event with their national pavilions.

"In the fields" of the Forum E.Idrissov held meetings with the foreign ministers of several countries: Iranian Ali Akbar Salehi, Erlan Abdyldayev of Kyrgyzstan, Afghanian Zalmai Rassoul, Kuwait Sheikh Sabah Al-Hamadomi, as well as the head of the Japanese delegation Minoru Quito.

As it is known, the Dialogue on cooperation in Asia was founded in 2002 and currently has a membership of 32 countries in the region. Kazakhstan considers the Dialogue as complementary and partner platform for the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia, initiated by the President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev in 1992. Actually Kazakhstan is the coordinator of three projects within the Dialogue - in agriculture, transport and energy.

Diplomacy Foreign policy Other Governmental Authorities Energy Kazakhstan and Asia