Dauren Diyarov opens 'New History of the Silk Road' forum in Astana

Astana is hosting the 'New History of the Silk Road' media forum, which has brought together representatives of more than 50 media structures from 23 countries. The director general of Kazinform International News Agency, Dauren Diyarov,  made a speech at the opening.

He reminded the participants of the media forum of Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev's speech at the jubilee session of the UN General Assembly in New York, when he proposed moving the UN headquarters to Asia.

He cited the head of the Kazakh state that in the 21st century the center of growth is moving rapidly toward Asia, the world's largest continent, where two thirds of the planet's population live and where enormous resources are concentrated.

"According to many experts, the initiative of Nursultan Nazarbayev is realizable in the long term. One evidence could be the idea of establishing the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA), an idea that was voiced by the Kazakh President in 1999," the Kazinform CEO said.

He also expressed the view that China has become the initiator of one of the key engines of prosperity not only for Asian states but also for the entire world. "I mean the 'One Belt, One Road' project. For the first time the initiatives on joint establishment of the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road were put forward by Chinese Chairman Xi Jinping in Kazakhstan and Indonesia. Today this project unites many countries of the continent," he noted.

"Kazakhstan adopted the Nurly Zhol Program, prioritizing development of its transport-logistics and industrial-energy infrastructure. Our key objective is to make Kazakhstan one of the largest business, transport-logistics and financial hubs of Asia. According to the agreements reached between Nursultan Nazarbayev and Chinese President Xi Jinping, we have shifted to the stage of the political coupling of Kazakhstan's Nurly Zhol new economic policy and China's 'One Belt, One Road' initiative," Dauren Diyarov concluded.