ASTANA – Tashkent hosted a Central Asian regional conference on April 14 dedicated to the role of public diplomacy in strengthening peace and good neighborliness in the region, reported Kazinform.
According to the Director of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Center for Public Diplomacy in Uzbekistan Kabuljon Sabirov, the conference, which takes place amid challenging times, strengthens relations among the Central Asian countries.
“Central Asia is an important player in international relations. The emergence of the expression Spirit of Central Asia in the realm of political science emphasizes that regional cooperation relies on mutual trust and solidarity. The region’s countries contributed to the resolution of issues concerning the stabilization of the situation in Afghanistan, promoted initiatives to strengthen the interconnectedness of Central and South Asia, and continued to make an effective contribution to the formation of a new type of relationship in the Eurasian continent,” said Sabirov.
President of the Civil Alliance of Kazakhstan Banu Nurgaziyeva underlined the role of the Nevada-Semey movement as a vivid example of public diplomacy that put a nuclear-free world initiative on the agenda. She emphasized the crucial role of Kazakhstan’s Civil Forum, a national dialogue platform providing recommendations on internal political and socio-economic issues in public diplomacy.
“Dialogue is a remarkable tool in public diplomacy. Everybody can promote the ideas of peace, harmony, and good neighborliness and influence the level of the political culture of the population through it. Now, there is a discussion of the initiative to create a similar center of public diplomacy in Kazakhstan. I hope we will have an international public diplomacy organization by the summer,” she said.
The conference participants also discussed a wide range of issues of multilateral cooperation of the Central Asian countries within international and regional organizations. They also focused on developing mechanisms for interaction among public diplomacy institutions in the SCO space.
During the conference, the Civil Alliance of Kazakhstan and the SCO Center for Public Diplomacy in Uzbekistan signed a memorandum of cooperation.
Source: Astana Times
