Building the Silk Road of the 21st century - Kazakhstan's role
Speaking at the 2025 Astana International Forum (AIF), Deputy Foreign Minister of Kazakhstan Akan Rakhmetullin emphasized the strategic importance of transport connectivity and export diversification for landlocked nations. For Kazakhstan, he stressed, access to external markets is not merely a policy priority — it is an existential necessity.
Returning to the question of regional connectivity and Kazakhstan’s broader role in Eurasian trade, Rakhmetullin began by underlining the country's geographic context:
“We are the biggest landlocked region and we are the biggest landlocked country. For us it's extremely and existentially important to develop our export routes and to expand our transit and transport opportunities.”
This imperative, he said, is central to Kazakhstan’s international economic policy.
“It is existentially important to go out, to go to the external markets,” he stressed.
A key component of this vision is the Middle Corridor — a multimodal transport route connecting China to Europe via Central Asia, the Caspian Sea, and the South Caucasus.
“We consider the Middle Corridor one of those routes that may serve that purpose — to ramify, to diversify our export and not to be dependent,” Rakhmetullin explained.
Kazakhstan, he noted, is taking a pragmatic and inclusive approach, working in close coordination with its regional neighbors:
“We are paying very particular attention, along with our regional partners,” he said, pointing to Kazakhstan’s active participation in both the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and broader efforts to revive the ancient Silk Road.
Kazakhstan, the world’s ninth-largest country by land area, has become a key partner in China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), a massive infrastructure project aimed at connecting Asia, Europe, and Africa through a network of railways, roads, ports, and other facilities.
“We are part of that road which has been on the crossroads — crossroads of continents, crossroads of trade. Kazakhstan, and I think countries from the region in a wider term, they are all supportive of that idea and we are ready to work on that.”
Rakhmetullin’s remarks align with Kazakhstan’s increasingly visible role as a connector between East and West, North and South — a country leveraging geography, neutrality, and diplomacy to shape 21st-century trade and cooperation.
“We aim to provide the best services whenever demanded,” he concluded.
As global attention increasingly turns to Central Asia’s strategic corridors, Kazakhstan continues to position itself not only as a transit hub, but as a proactive partner in building a more resilient and interconnected Eurasia.
Thomas Greminger Highlights also Kazakhstan’s important Role in the global market during the Astana International Forum.
Speaking before an international audience of policymakers, diplomats, and thought leaders, Greminger argued that middle powers are uniquely positioned to act as bridge builders in an increasingly fragmented global landscape. “Middle powers can also be bridge builders,” he stated, “and I think an excellent example is the role neutral and non-aligned countries played in the run-up to what then became the Helsinki Final Act in 1975.”
Referencing the Cold War-era Helsinki process as a model of multilateral diplomacy, Greminger emphasized how neutral and non-aligned states played a decisive role in facilitating dialogue between major powers. He went on to draw parallels with contemporary diplomacy, pointing to countries such as the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Brazil, and Saudi Arabia as present-day actors engaged in similar forms of mediation.
Greminger also highlighted his native Switzerland as a long-standing example of neutral facilitation, and notably praised Kazakhstan’s growing diplomatic presence: “We see Kazakhstan with its quiet diplomacy, with its work as a mediator on a number of issues,” he noted, affirming the Central Asian nation’s commitment to fostering dialogue in a complex geopolitical environment.
In his concluding remarks, Greminger described the world as “increasingly tripolar,” with a growing number of states falling into the category of middle powers. He urged these countries to embrace their role as norm shapers: “Middle powers have both a self-interest and a collective interest to shape and uphold international norms, to remain agile, and to adapt to an unpredictable world order.”
He concluded with a clear message: “They clearly have an interest to stick together wherever possible and to be bridge builders, in order not to be caught in the middle of great power rivalry or hegemony.”
Greminger’s remarks resonated strongly at a forum that has become a key platform for dialogue among global South nations and emerging middle powers, with Kazakhstan positioning itself at the forefront of this dynamic.
Bibliography Kazakhstan's Approach to Belt and Road: Meeting China on Its Own Terms
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