Ambassadors of Central Asia, Mongolia, the Caribbean States held First Meeting in Brussels

At the initiative of a group of Central Asian and Mongolian Ambassadors accredited in Belgium, the first joint informal meeting of the Heads of Diplomatic Missions of Central Asia, Mongolia and a Caribbean group of Ambassadors took place. The purpose of the meeting was to exchange experiences on expanding trade and economic and sectorial partnerships, as well as building interregional and intraregional ties.

According to Ambassador of Kazakhstan to Belgium Margulan Baimukhan, despite the geographical remoteness of the regions, there is a similar position of the countries of Central Asia and the Caribbean in strengthening global dialogue and international security, which is an important condition for deepening economic relations.

During the meeting, the Kazakh diplomat spoke about investment preferences and tools that allow foreign investors to develop their activities in Kazakhstan. Special attention was paid to the expansion of transport and logistics potential of the Central Asian region. In this context, the growing role and interest of the EU in the development of the Middle Corridor was noted. In addition, the parties discussed priorities for co-operation of the Central Asian countries and Mongolia with the institutions of the European Union.

As noted by the meeting participants, the GDP of the Central Asian countries and Mongolia together today totals 430 billion euros, and the growing young generation of these countries may approach the level of 100 million people by 2050. In 2023, intra-regional trade in Central Asia totalled 11 billion euros.

Speaking on behalf of the Regional Coordinator for the Caribbean, Ambassador Simone Betton-Nayo of Jamaica outlined the main achievements and plans for EU-Caribbean relations, as well as the most pressing European areas of common foreign policy. The diplomat highlighted that their region cooperates with the EU in three main areas, including cooperation within the Organisation of African Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS), the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) and the Economic Partnership.

Symone Betton-Nayo noted that the second EU-CELAC Summit was held in Brussels in 2023. The Jamaican diplomat intends to share her experience in promoting climate, innovation, humanitarian and trade dialogues with Central Asian partners.

The participants also touched upon the issues of visa regime, increasing the number of flights and expanding the geography of flights, tourism, education, digitalization, in particular the implementation of e-government projects, cultural and humanitarian interaction, dialogue with the EU in the field of strengthening democratic institutions, establishing business contacts, etc.

Following the meeting, the parties agreed to maintain a substantive dialogue aimed at strengthening comprehensive interaction between Central Asia, Mongolia, the Caribbean and the EU.

The European Union is one of the Caribbean region's largest trading partners. In 2023, total trade in goods between the EU and the Caribbean totaled 8 billion euros.

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