Tokayev says globalization replaced by regionalization
Moscow, Jun 17 (EFE).- Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said Friday that globalization has been replaced by regionalization in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic and geopolitical tensions over Russia’s military campaign in Ukraine.
“The global upheavals associated with the pandemic and rising geopolitical tensions have led to a new reality. Globalization has been replaced by the era of regionalization with all its inherent advantages and disadvantages,” he told the plenary session of the St. Petersburg Economic Forum.
Tokayev said that inflation in many countries is reaching record highs, global economic growth is slowing, and competition for investment and resources is intensifying.
“Climate change, increased migration flows and accelerated technological change have become restraining factors for economic growth,” he said.
The Kazakh leader believes that it is important to take into account the rapidly changing structure of the world order and the shift in the seemingly stable vectors of interaction between East and West, and North and South.
For Tokayev, it is therefore important for the countries of the Central Asian region to find not only the right answers to all these challenges, but also to try to make the most of them.
Therefore, in his opinion, it is necessary to constantly promote the full potential of cooperation within the framework of the Eurasian Economic Union, consisting of Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, and to develop a new trade strategy within the alliance.
He also noted that a more active and flexible trade policy with a broad coverage of Asian and Middle Eastern markets should be pursued.
Kazakhstan could play a useful role as a “buffer market,” he stressed.
“In general, the ultimate success of Eurasian integration largely depends precisely on the effectiveness of our common trade strategy,” Tokayev said. EFE
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