BAKU, Azerbaijan, November 24. I would also like to propose Kazakhstan as a venue for one of the next SPECA summits at a mutually agreed time, said Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev during his speech at the first summit of the heads of state participants of the UN Special Program for the Economies of Central Asia (SPECA) in Baku, Trend reports.
The Kazakh President emphasized that Astana supports the process of institutionalizing SPECA, designed to fully unlock its enormous potential to effectively promote multifaceted trade, economic, and investment cooperation among the countries of the region.
"Moreover, in the future, we would be happy to see new SPECA participants - representatives of partner states and UN institutions. I propose our governments establish a special working group of SPECA," Tokayev said.
"In addition, taking advantage of this occasion, I propose holding a special SPECA panel discussion on the sidelines of the upcoming Astana International Forum, which will be held in June. This high-level event is intended to bring together the worldwide community's efforts to identify unified responses to our time's exceptional problems. I'd also like to offer Kazakhstan as the location for one of the upcoming SPECA summits at a mutually convenient time," he added.
Tokayev concluded his speech by expressing confidence that today's summit will allow us to work out specific mechanisms to increase the effectiveness of SPECA and further strengthen friendship and strategic partnership between the countries.