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Kazakhstan wants to lead a middle-power rebalancing of global order [1]

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Date: 2025-05

President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev is trying to position Kazakhstan as a leading advocate for changing “the architecture of international relations” in ways that give “middle powers” a greater say in global affairs.

In an opening speech at the May 29-30 Astana International Forum, Tokayev offered a full-throated endorsement for a return to a global order rooted in multilateralism. While many emerging threats, such as global warming, are transnational, “our responses are becoming increasingly fragmented,” he said. The decay of the existing global order, he added, left countries facing a choice between “inclusive progress” and “destructive fragmentation.”

For the principle of “constructive engagement” to prevail, Tokayev argued for far-reaching structural reform of the United Nations so that it “reflects the world as it is, not as it was.” For the UN to return to relevancy, the Security Council should expand to accommodate more middle-power input in policy debates, he said.

Speaking in English, and without mentioning by name the United States, European Union, Russia and China, the Kazakh president argued that middle powers deserved an equitable stake in forging a new, inclusive order. He added that in return for a greater degree of influence in policy debates, middle powers “should be ready to shoulder more multilateral responsibility.”

Tokayev also made it clear that he wants Kazakhstan to help lead the charge for change.

“We are entering a new phase of global development. …Therefore, we must widen the circle of cooperation,” Tokayev said. “Kazakhstan stands ready to contribute to this shift – as a convener of ideas, a builder of consensus, and a trusted partner across regions and cultures.”

The Astana International Forum was launched in 2023 in part as a vehicle to advance Kazakhstan’s ambitions of becoming a middle power that exerts diplomatic and economic influence over regional, and occasionally global affairs. Deputy Foreign Minister Roman Vassilenko described the forum as “a response to such a calling for Kazakhstan to be more engaged” diplomatically.

Over time, Kazakh officials would like to see the AIF become the go-to middle-power arena for public policy discussions.

“Multiple futures lie ahead – some full of promise, others full of peril” in which outcomes “will depend not on the proclamations of the few, but on the cooperation of the many,” Tokayev said. “The Astana International Forum was created to support that cooperation – by offering a platform rooted in mutual respect and open exchange.”

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[1] Url: https://eurasianet.org/kazakhstan-wants-to-lead-a-middle-power-rebalancing-of-global-order

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