US Secretary Antony Blinken and visiting Kazakh Foreign Minister Mukhtar Tileuberdi discussed cooperation in the Central Asian region and security, the top US diplomat said in Washington DC.
“It’s very good to have Foreign Minister Tileuberdi here today. We have been strategic partners with Kazakhstan for 30 years, something that we value very much,” Blinken said on May 20, the US State Department said in a press release. “We very much support as well the important efforts at political and economic reform that are taking place now in Kazakhstan. This long relationship is one girded by our strong commitment to Kazakhstan’s independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity,” the US Secretary of State said.
“We have a lot to talk about today in terms of the region, security. What we’re seeing among other things from Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine are profound impacts beyond Ukraine, including in Central Asia – food, energy, trade – and we’re working to address all of these second and third order effects of the aggression,” Blinken said.
For his part, Tileuberdi said he arrived in Washington DC with a special mission to deliver Kazakhstan’s key messages, to reaffirm his country’s steadfast commitment to further advance Nur-Sultan’s Enhanced Strategic Partnership with the United States.
“Just also using this opportunity, I would like to thank you for your initiative to the ministerial meeting on global food security,” the Kazakh Foreign Minister said.
He added, “I participated in New York this 18 of May, and I believe that it was important and timely event to address the actual issues and the challenges, which is very important especially for our region of Central Asia”.
Later that day, Tileuberdi held talks with US Deputy Secretary of Energy David Turk, Kazakhstan’s Foreign Ministry said. Tileuberdi noted that Kazakhstan is a reliable partner of the United States both in the energy sector and in nuclear non-proliferation.
With the increasing importance of clean energy sources and zero-emission economies, Kazakhstan is also aligning its economic priorities with the climate agenda by focusing on decarbonizing the economy and introducing low-carbon technologies.
