On March 16, the President of Kazakhstan, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, is slated to participate in an extraordinary summit of the Organization of Turkic States in Ankara. This development has been reported by TASS and others. The visit underscores Kazakhstan’s active engagement in regional cooperation and its interest in advancing shared priorities across Turkic-speaking nations.
According to the President of Kazakhstan’s press service, Tokayev will travel to Ankara to attend the extraordinary Turkic States summit at the invitation of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The official statement emphasizes that the gathering will focus on consolidating cooperation among member states and reviewing ongoing initiatives within the Turkic States framework, including joint efforts in emergency management and humanitarian aid. The aim is to coordinate responses to natural disasters, enhance disaster risk reduction, and strengthen collaborative mechanisms that enable rapid, effective assistance across borders.
The summit’s agenda is expected to include discussions on current and future cooperative activities, with a particular emphasis on regional stability, shared security concerns, and practical steps to deepen economic, cultural, and social ties among Turkic-speaking countries. Delegations may explore ways to streamline coordination during emergencies, share best practices in humanitarian logistics, and expand joint projects that support resilience and resilience-building in member nations.
In a separate historical note, the visit of Russia’s President Vladimir Putin to Astana in 2023 was seen as a significant moment in the broader context of Kazakhstan’s foreign relations. That meeting, held with the Russian ambassador, is reported to have addressed the status and prospects of the Kazakh-Russian comprehensive strategic partnership and the planning of the XIX Interregional Cooperation Forum, which was scheduled to take place in Kostanay in the autumn of 2023. The conversations underscored Kazakhstan’s ongoing balancing act in managing regional partnerships while pursuing its own development agenda and regional leadership within Central Asia and beyond.