Their Highnesses and Excellencies the Foreign Ministers of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), and the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, the Republic of Tajikistan, the Republic of Turkmenistan and the Republic of Uzbekistan, held the first joint ministerial meeting of the strategic dialogue between the GCC and Central Asian countries, on Wednesday (September 7, 2022), at the headquarters of the General Secretariat in Riyadh.
The meeting was headed by His Highness Prince Faisal bin Farhan bin Abdullah Al Saud, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Chairman of the current session of the Ministerial Council, and it witnessed the participation of:
His Excellency Mr. Khalifa Shaheen Al Marar,
Minister of State of the United Arab Emirates
His Excellency Dr Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani,
Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Bahrain
His Excellency Mr. Sayyid Badr bin Hamad bin Hamood Al Busaidi,
Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Sultanate of Oman
His Excellency Shaikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani,
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the State of Qatar
His Excellency Shaikh Dr Ahmed Nasser Al Mohammed Al Sabah,
Minister of Foreign Affairs of the State of Kuwait
His Excellency Dr Nayef Falah Mubarak Al Hajraf,
Secretary General of the Gulf Cooperation Council
His Excellency Mr. Vladimir Norov,
Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Uzbekistan
His Excellency Mr. Raşit Meredow,
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Turkmenistan
His Excellency Mr. Sirojiddin Muhriddinm,
Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Tajikistan
His Excellency Mr. Mukhtar Tileuberdi,
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan
His Excellency Mr. Jeenbek Kulubaev,
Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kyrgyz Republic
The following statement was issued after the meeting:
1. The ministers welcomed holding the first ministerial meeting on strategic dialogue between the Gulf Cooperation Council and the Central Asian countries, and expressed their firm willingness to forge a strong, ambitious and forward-looking partnership that builds upon common values and mutual interests, as well as the deep historical ties between their peoples, and the existing multifaceted cooperation at bilateral and multilateral level.
2. The ministers exchanged views on regional and international issues and stressed the importance of coordinating their positions through the strategic dialogue mechanisms developed at this meeting.
3. The ministers emphasized commitment to joint cooperation to bolster global economic recovery efforts, address economic repercussions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, ensure the resiliency of supply chains, transport-transit connectivity, the food, energy and water security, develop green energy sources and technologies, address the environmental challenges and climate change, education, exchange of the best practices and expertise, create business opportunities and support investments, including through appropriate financial and investment mechanisms.
4. The ministers underscored the relevance of the principles, goals and priorities set out in the Concept of Interaction of Central Asian countries within the framework of multilateral formats, adopted by the Heads of States of Central Asian countries on July 21, 2022 in Cholpon-Ata, Kyrgyzstan, as well as the appropriate GCC decisions on building cooperation with Central Asian countries.
5. To this effect, the ministers endorsed the Joint Action Plan for Strategic Dialogue and Cooperation between Central Asian countries and the GCC States for the period 2023-2027, including political and security dialogue, economic and investment cooperation, enhancing people-to-people contacts, developing effective partnerships between business sectors, and decided to take necessary measures for its proper implementation at bilateral and multilateral levels.
6. The ministers welcomed the Republic of Kazakhstan’s invitation to host the first GCC-Central Asian Economic Forum in Astana in June 2023.
7. The ministers welcomed the Republic of Uzbekistan’s invitation to host the second ministerial meeting of the GCC-Central Asian Strategic Dialogue in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, in 2023.
Issued at the GCC Secretariat, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Wednesday 11 Safar 1444AH- 7 September 2022