How did domestic experts assess Nursultan Nazarbayev's visit to the USA? (OVERVIEW)
On January 16, in Washington D. C. Head of State Nursultan Nazarbayev met with US President Donald Trump. During the meeting they discussed a number of important issues, including strengthening of bilateral cooperation between Kazakhstan and America, international policy, North Korea's actions and many other negotiations on the agenda.
An important meeting of President Nursultan Nazarbayev was held with UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres. On January 18, the President of Kazakhstan addressed the UN Security Council meeting.
In general, after the official talks between Nursultan Nazarbayev and Donald Trump, domestic and foreign experts took this meeting silver lining.
So, Chairman of the Senate of the Parliament of Kazakhstan Kassym-Zhomart Tokayev called the trip of the President to the USA historically important.
"Negotiations of President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev in the White House revealed the similarity in the positions of Kazakhstan and the USA to the issues of development of bilateral cooperation international situation. D. Trump called Kazakhstan a partner in the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula. This visit is historically important!", the speaker of the Senate wrote on his page on Twitter on January 16.
At the same time, after the speech and official statement of N. Nazarbayev at the meeting of the UN Security Council, K. Tokayev also stated on the page on Twitter that the speech of the President of Kazakhstan at the UN Security Council meeting will form the basis for discussions of important international problems.
"The contentious speech of President N. Nazarbayev at the meeting of the UN Security Council will give a strong impetus to the work of the key body of the world organization, will form the basis for discussions on key issues of the international situation. The leader of Kazakhstan confirmed the reputation of a strategically thinking politician", Kassym-Zhomart Tokayev stressed.
In turn, Chairman of the Kazakhstan Council for International Affairs, political scientist Yerlan Karin, who was in the USA and watched the process of negotiations between the two Presidents, also highly appreciated the trip and noted the important place and role of Kazakhstan for the United States of America.
"The Presidents have talked a lot about security in general and the situation in Afghanistan, in particular. Kazakhstan, as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council, is the chairman of the key committees - on Afghanistan and the Taliban/IGIL. Therefore, Astana's position is very important for Washington D. C.", Yerlan Karin said.
According to director of the Center for Applied Research "Talap", economist Rakhim Oshakbayev, the meeting of the two Presidents can be considered successful.
"The main purpose of the visit to the United States is the interests of Kazakhstan, the strengthening of trust relations at the highest level with the new US administration. Trump is an engine of the new paradigm of the US foreign policy, first, the republican sense with its own specifics. This paradigm is seriously different from what the Democrats led by Obama promoted", R. Oshakbayev said.
Leading expert of the Institute of World Economy and Politics (IWEP) under the First President Foundation Urazgali Selteyev believes that the meeting of Nursultan Nazarbayev with Donald Trump is primarily important from the point of view of stimulating a new inflow of American investments into the Kazakhstan economy.
The specialist points out that the US leads the list of investor countries with an amount of over 50 billion dollars over the years of cooperation. However, today we need to reorient and shift the focus of American corporations to priority areas for us. We are talking about digitalization, automation of production processes in those sectors of the economy that make up the bulk of exports.
"In this context, the visit of the Head of State to the United States has also become a kind of presentation of our modernization program and key vectors of the economic reforms. Therefore, in the future, we can expect the emergence of new joint projects on the introduction of high technology. This primarily concerns the oil and gas sector, the petrochemical industry, energy, transport and logistics infrastructure", Urazgali Selteyev said.
In his opinion, Kazakhstan has always provided foreign investors, including American investors, with favorable conditions for doing business. The concluded agreements set a new dynamic in the cooperation of Kazakhstani and American businesses for years to come.
Meanwhile, the IWEP notes the economic component between the two countries. As the Head of State said during the briefing on the results of the talks, it is planned to conclude more than 20 contracts worth more than 7.5 billion dollars. It's no secret that Astana's interest lies in developing contacts with the USA in transferring high technologies and innovative productions. In this connection, it can be confidently said that the new agreements will allow Kazakhstan to realize its "digital" agenda in the economy.
Secondly, D. Trump and N. Nazarbayev confirmed the intention of the United States and Kazakhstan to continue working together on the issue of strengthening the international and regional security.
"For Astana, Washington is one of the key partners in foreign policy and the most important investor in the economy. In turn, as noted by Donald Trump, America considers a strong, sovereign and independent Kazakhstan as a valuable friend and strategic partner of the United States in Central Asia", the Institute commented.
Other experts, this time the KISS, believe that the official visit of President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev to the United States will be effective in terms of the investment climate.
For example, Alua Zholdybalina, the head of the socio-political research department at the Kazakhstan Institute for Strategic Studies under the President of Kazakhstan, told the reporter that the official visit of Nursultan Nazarbayev is an important achievement regarding diplomatic relations between Kazakhstan and the United States.
"During the visit, a number of issues were discussed, and several important agreements were signed. The results are good. Today, the world experts assess this trip highly, especially effective in terms of the investment direction. The signed agreements became the evidence of this", Alua Zholdybalina estimated.
In turn, Anastasiya Reshetnyak, the researcher at the Kazakhstan Institute for Strategic Studies (KISS), said that Kazakhstan supports US initiatives with regard to peaceful establishment and infrastructure in Afghanistan.
"We can talk about the assistance that we are providing to Afghanistan and the multibillion-dollar grants that are provided to Afghan students from Kazakhstan. On the other hand, the United States, with the acquisition of independence, welcomes our initiatives on nuclear disarmament", A. Reshetnyak said.
At the same time, according to the expert, Kazakhstan is for advocating the establishment of complex relations between Russia and the United States.
"As in the Security Council, and directly in the conversation of our President with Donald Trump, the moment of mediation in the rather complicated complex relations between Russia and the United States was clearly traced. Both these states are partners of our country and it is important for us to maintain cooperation with these countries", she stressed.
Along with the experts, the trip was highly appreciated by American, European and Russian mass media.
We remind that from January 16 to 19, President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev was on an official visit to the United States.
Within the framework of the official visit of the Head of the State, more than 20 commercial documents on investment, trade and economic cooperation were signed that are aimed at implementing projects in the field of aviation and space research, petrochemical and agricultural industries, as well as infrastructure development projects worth 7.5 billion dollars.
Akbota Kuzekbay
Photo by Bauyrzhan Zhuasbayev
