Kazakhstan to play pivotal role in promoting trade as BRI partner: President

Kazakhstan is set to play a pivotal role in promoting transcontinental trade as a member of the Eurasian Economic Union and a reliable partner of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), said Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayeve on Tuesday.

"Kazakhstan firmly pursues a policy of inclusive and sustainable development, comprehensive dialogue and peaceful endeavours," Tokayev said at the General Debate of the 74th UN General Assembly.

Close and constructive political dialogue among all five Central Asian countries will be instrumental for trade, economic, investment and people-to-people interaction, he said, voicing his conviction that Central Asia "is becoming global stakeholder."

The alarming new global reality, he said, is influenced by the following major trends: growing unresolved conflicts and tensions in various parts of the world, lack of trust among global and regional actors, widening social, economic and technological inequalities, together with the emerging global debt crisis and the environmental degradation.

Kazakhstan believes that the current issues surrounding the Iran nuclear deal and the denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula should be settled only via political means, with due respect to their respective interests and concerns, the president said.