Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has called for increased defense collaboration among the Central Asian countries to address security challenges common to all five countries.
Consisting of Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, the so-called “C5” states could develop a regional security architecture to reduce reliance on external powers, Tokayev suggested.
This concept of collective defense would also allow the C5 to build partnerships with other mid-sized countries such as those of the Gulf Cooperation Council.
Central Asian leaders held a summit in Riyadh recently to press for greater cooperation with Middle Eastern partners. Arab leaders will travel to Samarkand in Uzbekistan for the next iteration of the summit.
“The creation of a regional security architecture is becoming especially urgent, including through the development of a catalog of security risks for Central Asia and measures to prevent them,” Tokayev noted in an article to promote the idea.
“As a responsible participant in the world community, Kazakhstan advocates strict adherence to the principles of international law, respect for sovereignty and the inviolability of borders.”
Before President Tokayev made his comments, Uzbekistan was perceived as the most vocal proponent of greater Central Asian cooperation, a process stimulated by the ascension of Shavkat Mirziyoyev to the Uzbek presidency in 2016.
Former Uzbek foreign minister and presidential advisor on foreign policy Abdulaziz Kamilov lent support to Kazakhstan’s proposal in a statement in which he ask countries to abandon “outdated approaches to establishing relations with neighbors.”