Foreign Minister Andriy Sibiga called Kazakhstan a key regional partner of Ukraine and spoke in favor of deepening cooperation in the fields of logistics, energy, and post-war reconstruction, also announcing his intention to launch the “Ukraine + Central Asia” platform.
“It is important for Kazakhstan to remain one of the key suppliers of energy resources in Eurasia, while simultaneously diversifying and modernizing its energy sector. Kazakhstan is also one of the world’s leading producers of uranium, which is a critically important resource for nuclear energy production. This plays an important role in global energy security,” the minister said in an interview with The Times of Central Asia.
Sibiga noted that Ukraine is interested in the participation of Kazakhstani businesses and investors in the country’s reconstruction, as well as in the development of the Middle Corridor as an alternative transport route between Asia and Europe involving Ukrainian Black Sea ports.
Separately, the foreign minister touched on the topic of historical memory and the shared experience of Ukraine and Kazakhstan related to policies of repression and the suppression of national identity.
According to Sibiga, Russia’s strategic goal is to continue a policy that, in his assessment, dates back to the times of the Russian Empire and the Soviet period.
“Russia’s strategic goal is to complete what the Russian Empire began and the Soviet regime failed to finish: the eradication of national identity and the destruction of the very foundation of our existence as a separate nation,” he emphasized.
The minister also noted that Ukraine and Kazakhstan share a common historical memory of language and cultural bans, repression, deportations, and famines.
“Ukraine and Kazakhstan alike remember the tragic chapters of their history: the banning of language and culture, the destruction of the intelligentsia, deportations, repression, and famines. We cannot allow this to happen again,” the foreign minister concluded.
Central Asia, KAZAKHSTAN, MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS, PARTNER
