President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev arrived in Bishkek at the invitation of his Kyrgyz counterpart, President Sadyr Japarov, to participate in the 26th Meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) and the SCO Plus meeting.
The meeting is being held under the chairmanship of Kyrgyzstan and coincides with the 25th anniversary of the Organisation, which has resulted in a particularly broad participation. Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin, and the leaders of Türkiye, Pakistan, Iran, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Mongolia, as well as the Prime Minister of India and the Secretary-General of the United Nations attended the event.
What Tokayev told Aliyev
In Bishkek, President Tokayev held a meeting with President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev to discuss Kazakhstan’s political reforms, including the outcome of the first elections to the country’s unicameral Kurultai. The President of Kazakhstan described the elections as an important stage in the country’s comprehensive modernisation and thanked President Aliyev for his congratulations, as well as for the work of the Azerbaijani observer mission during the elections.
According to President Tokayev, international organisations had, for the first time in the country’s history, given a positive assessment of the elections. He noted that the Kurultai now intends to establish working-level ties with Azerbaijan’s Milli Majlis.
“For my part, I will provide every possible support for this area of cooperation,” the President said, adding that he keeps all key issues of bilateral cooperation under his direct oversight and considers the political will of the heads of state to be the principal factor behind successful cooperation.
In his turn, President Aliyev emphasised the scale of Kazakhstan’s reforms and described the election results as confirmation that society supports the course pursued by the Kazakh leadership. In addition to political issues, the two Presidents discussed bilateral trade, economic and investment cooperation, including the implementation of joint projects in transport, logistics, energy and digitalisation.
World Nomad Games
President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev attended the official opening ceremony of the 6th World Nomad Games at Bishkek Arena. The Games are a major sporting and cultural event featuring traditional ethnic sports. President of Kyrgyzstan Sadyr Japarov personally welcomed the Kazakh leader at the ceremony.
According to the organisers, participants from over 100 countries have gathered in Bishkek this year to compete in traditional sports, with the snow leopard chosen as the symbol of the Games.
Over 150 athletes will represent Kazakhstan at the Games. Kazakh athletes will compete in all 43 disciplines.
