Greater Eurasia: Dialog, Trust and Cooperation

The parliamentary conference in the Kazakh capital can be undoubtedly accounted for the largest, most important event of its kind. Senior delegations from 65 countries (a number that has almost tripled compared to when there were 19 countries attending the Moscow conference) came to the Kazakh capital and amongst them were representatives from China, Iran, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Korea and Turkey as well as European nations such as Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cyprus, France, Germany, Italy, Hungary, Montenegro, Slovakia, the UK and many more. Also 15 delegations from various international organizations took part in the event.

The conference is held in circumstances where it would be hard to think of a time in recent years when the need for dialogue, trust and partnership has been greater as we look around at increased global tensions. Despite a widespread understanding that cooperation is the only way to overcome the many challenges our world faces, each seems in dangerously short supply.

It is a sad fact that this is the as much truth in Eurasia as in any other part of the world. We may share one landmass, but it is fractured by military, political and economic disputes. Millions of people live on a daily basis with the catastrophic consequences of conflict. Many more inhabit regions where tensions between neighbors cast a dark shadow over their hopes for the future.

That is why Kazakhstan made the vision of partnership across Eurasia the main priority of the conference. It has been one of the foundations of the country’s foreign policy since Kazakhstan’s First President, Nursultan Nazarbayev set out his vision of greater Eurasian integration 25 years ago. This was a theme he returned to – and supported with practical initiatives – many times, including at the UN General Assembly in 2015 and again in April in Beijing when he made a passionate appeal for increased dialogue and economic and security cooperation.

During the opening session, Nursultan Nazarbayev urged the parliaments of Eurasia to be more involved in shaping their nations’ policies and in strengthening international cooperation.

Nazarbayev emphasized the important role of parliamentarians in enhancing cooperation between Europe and Asia and in overcoming the crisis of international law, and stated, “We are all witnessing a crisis in the system of international law, more often its erosion, ignorance, blurring or violation. We are aware of the cases, when the sovereignty, territorial integrity of the states was violated and all previously agreed agreements were broken. The arbitrary use of sanctions has a negative effect not only on the countries that these sanctions target, but all other countries and the well-being of millions of ordinary people across the world”.

As in the words of Nazarbayev, “Parliamentarians, said Nazarbayev, should be more involved in political and policy decisions, including the ratification of prominent international agreements, including the Paris Climate Agreement and the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty underlining, “Understanding the depth and acuteness of global trust between world powers, who else rather than people elected by fellow citizens could contribute to overcoming this.”

Heading the high-ranking delegation of the Islamic Republic of Iran to Kazakhstan, Masoud Pezeshkian, Vice Speaker of the Parliament of Iran, participated in the me4eting and put forth his gratitude to the Kazakh Parliament and Mr. Nurlan Nigmatulin, Venerable Chairman of the Majilis of the Parliament of Kazakhstan as well as the Kazakh Government for their warm hospitality and timely measures accentuating, “taking a cursory glance at the indices and components of power is enough to know that Eurasia has everything that it takes to play a highlighted role in regional and international contexts. Catalyzing a cooperative perspective based on long-term interests of the nations in the region coupled with common principles, it can draw a rather new horizon for regional cooperation and effective global interaction. Most certainly, greater Eurasia would not be able to become a prevailing dialog in the region without multilateral dialog and collaboration based on mutual trust.”

Condemning the US sanctions against the people of Iran just when Iran considered it an achievement in multilateral diplomacy and a UNSC resolution and committed to it, Pezeshkian called on the present countries to support international and multilateral commitments and agreements.

The conference went sideways a bit and apart from a fairly serious disagreement between the Indian and Pakistani delegations during their speeches on Kashmir, there were allegations against Iran from one of the members of a participating delegation, which was evaluated by Pezeshkian as the continuation to the tension-making policies of some Middle-Eastern states and emphasized Iran does once again express its readiness to hold talks with every Gulf State as to make the region a safer, better place.

In addition to the delegations’ speeches present at the conference, it must be noted that Eurasia is home to 65 percent of the world’s population and accounts for 75 percent of energy resources and 40 percent of global gross domestic product, and the parliaments of the region should enhance their cooperative legislation and to do so, inter-parliamentary communities need to boost efforts within the legal frameworks. In fact, a major part of their work is to coordinate legal measures.

Legislation should also be unified in fight against crime. Nazarbayev urged the formation of a common definition for terrorism as well as the creation of a single list of terrorists, extremist organizations and international organized criminal groups in the Eurasian region.

At the end, it must be said that such gathering of high-ranking parliamentarians from all across Eurasia in the week that passed could not be better timed so dialog, trust and cooperation could be best discussed. This can give a fine opportunity to influential politicians to further underline the common values among countries and their citizens and with joint efforts, achieve success and overcome divides and disputes.