Pastures in remote mountainous areas of Kyrgyzstan. INTERVIEW | Kyrgyzstan’s Foreign Minister: Central Asian countries resolve any issues that arise jointly UN
Among the topics most frequently mentioned in speeches by world leaders during the UN General Assembly High Week are climate change, conflicts and wars, socio-economic development, and the need to reform the UN, including the Security Council. The speech by Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov was no exception. Lyudmila Blagonravova asked Kyrgyz Foreign Minister Jeenbek Kulubayev, who arrived in New York to participate in the High Week events, more about the country’s position on these issues.
ЛБ: In his speech at the general political debate of the UN General Assembly, the President of Kyrgyzstan said that now the leading powers spend very large amounts of money on war, on weapons, on the development of new types of weapons, while in poor countries there are often not even the most basic services – water supply, sanitation. And the President expressed the idea that it would be good to direct these funds not to war, but to development. How can this be achieved? And how can we make sure that the mechanisms for financing development are effective and really work?
ZhK: President Japarov voiced his opinion, since there are now a lot of conflicts in the world, and for these conflicts there are always financial resources, weapons, supplies, and all this money is spent on the further continuation of these conflicts. But there are more important things, such as reducing poverty, improving the lives of the population. In remote regions, in mountain villages there is a shortage of water, a lack of basic conditions. Meanwhile, the sea level rises and flooding of territories occurs.
Therefore, the president was thinking about why money is found for conflicts that lead to human casualties. But it is very difficult to find money to improve people’s lives.
But we have a precedent. Last year, the president came up with an initiative: countries that have a large external debt can use it for internal use – for development purposes. That is, donor countries could write it off for some projects that will be used within the country.
For example, two years ago the German government wrote off 15 million dollars to Kyrgyzstan, which we are now using to solve housing problems in Kyrgyzstan.
Now we have put forward the idea that the EU countries could write off our debt, for example, for the construction of hydroelectric power plants, for the production of energy from renewable sources, for climate conservation. Because green energy, green economy and climate conservation are becoming one of the most important trends at the present time. That is why we put forward this initiative, and we are now negotiating with various governments about the possibility of writing off our external debt in order to use it for internal development and to improve the lives of our population and to preserve the climate.
I think many are thinking about this now, and some find this question reasonable. Many countries should think, look and open up the possibility of negotiating for those countries that have problems with external debt or where the poverty level is very high.
LB: You mentioned climate change, its consequences and the problems associated with it. This is one of the most pressing issues now for the countries of Central Asia. How does the region solve these problems and how, in particular, does Kyrgyzstan solve them?
ZhK: Kyrgyzstan is a mountainous country, 96 percent of our territory is mountains. And in this regard, the bulk of the population is engaged in agriculture, cattle breeding and lives in mountainous regions. There is snow and glaciers in the mountains. And, of course, climate change affects the lives of our population. Glaciers are melting very quickly now. There are a lot of floods, mudflows. A lot of landslides. They disrupt the normal way of life, and in some places there is not even enough pasture for cattle breeding. Therefore, of course, when we say “climate”, this is not just a trend for conversation. We speak from our own experience.
Of course, since Kyrgyzstan is a mountainous country with a large number of glaciers, these are very large water resources for the region. We have a good consultation mechanism with the Central Asian countries, and our leaders meet and discuss all issues of the region, including water and energy.
We agree annually on who will need how much water and what the possibilities are. If we have surpluses, we always give them to our neighbors. On the other hand, our neighbors also help us. And if we do not have enough energy, they supply us with energy in the summer, in the winter, and we return it to the water resources. The mechanism for preserving water, using water resources in Central Asia is very well developed.
But at the same time, we also have problems. This is the Aral Sea issue. We have a special committee for the conservation of the area, and within its framework we discuss issues related to the conservation and restoration of the Aral Sea. But now, in connection with climate change, of course, this is very difficult, but, nevertheless, we are doing this work. It is important that our leaders understand that in Central Asia we must work together, discuss issues together. And we resolve any issues that arise together in the interests of the development of our peoples and countries.
LB: Kyrgyzstan is putting forward its candidacy for the UN Security Council for 2027-2028. In his speech at the General Assembly, the President said that if elected, Kyrgyzstan will advocate for increasing the effectiveness of the Council and, in particular, for expanding its membership. Many are talking about this now, many speakers mentioned it. Which countries, in your opinion, should be included among the permanent members of the Security Council?
ЖК:The issue of UN reform has been around for a long time. We discuss it every year. And, of course, each time there are different proposals from different countries. When we put forward our candidacy for non-permanent membership in the Security Council for 2027-2028, of course, we had a roadmap – what we should do to get votes and win.
For us, issues such as regional security in Central Asia are important. It is important for Afghanistan to be a stable country. And, of course, the climate issue, as I have already said, remains the main issue in our region. Therefore, we say at the global level that we are ready to deal with political issues, and climate problems, problems of small island states, we are ready to voice their problems in the Security Council.
As for the expansion of the Security Council, this is a very difficult issue. It seems to me that it will be discussed for a long time. But at least we understand that there are large countries that are declaring the possibility of participating in the Council. These are Japan, Germany, India. They are expressing their interest, and there are other countries. These are three large countries that could be in the Security Council in the future, but time will tell. There are many different opinions being expressed about reforming the Security Council. Whether this will work or not is another question. But the most important thing is that there is a topic, people are discussing and putting forward different concepts.