Week of diplomacy: Macron’s ‘charm offensive’ and show of Turkic unity  

French President Emmanel Macron used very friendly rhetoric when he visited Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan this week.

Meeting President Kasymzhomart Tokayev in Astana on Wednesday, Macron said he did not “underestimate” “the geopolitical difficulties, the pressures” that Kazakhstan might be under, referring to Kazakhstan’s refusal to back Russia’s war on Ukraine.

He said that France “values” Kazakhstan’s position not to be “a vassal of any power”.

“We respect our friends, we are here when they need us and we respect their independence,» Macron added.

In the Uzbek city of Samarkand, where he flew after Astana, Macron told Uzbek counterpart Shavkat Mirziyoyev that France supports his policy and “would like to help you implement it».

Macron apparently meant the slight relaxation of control in Uzbekistan under Mirziyoyev, compared to the total suppression under his late predecessor Islam Karimov.

However, earlier this year, through constitutional changes and an uncontested election, Mirziyoyev effectively prepared the ground for himself to stay in power till 2037. The move was followed by increased pressure on internal dissent, activists say.

With Kazakhstan being the world’s No 1 uranium supplier, and Uzbekistan No 5, securing deliveries of uranium for the French nuclear power stations was one of the key purposes of Macron’s tour.

Kazakhstan also has extensive deposits of critical materials, minerals needed for green energy technologies. A scramble for such supplies between the big economies is expected to intensify in the coming decades.  

Also, the ongoing conflicts in Europe, between Russia and Ukraine, and in the Middle East, are making Central Asia an important transport corridor for trade between Asia and Europe.

Given all these factors, judging by Macron’s rhetoric, Europe appears to be dropping its policy of looking at Central Asia only through the prism of issues of democratisation and human rights.

It is choosing a more realistic and pragmatic approach. In the sense that lecturing the Central Asian governments on those issues (without the right internal dynamics for change) won’t help but will only alienate them.  

The summit of the Organisation of Turkic States held in Astana on Friday was not expected to come up with anything remarkable. However, it appears, the escalation of the Palestinian-Israeli standoff, came as an opportune moment to demonstrate Turkic unity.

The Organisation, whose members are Turkey, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan and Kyrgyzstan, called for an immediate end of military action in Gaza, and expressed support for an independent Palestinian state.

It was the organisation’s first show of a coordinated political stance on a critical international issue.

The OTS’ development plan for the next ten years, which was unveiled by President Tokayev, too showed the member countries’ desire to position themselves as a political and security alliance in the making.

Tokayev said the current “unstable international situation” calls for strengthening Turkic unity, “as a reliable guarantor of our joint security”.

He criticised the UN Security Council for falling into “stagnation” and urged its reform by making it representative of “all parts of the world, including the Global South”.

Meanwhile, the Turkic states will adopt “a carefully weighed approach towards complex global developments” and focus on strengthening Turkic integration, Tokayev said.

The OTS’ new ten-year plan, called TURKTIME, which stands for Tradition, Unification, Reforms, Knowledge, Trust, Investments, Mediation and Energy, as outlined at the summit, is a combination of measures to create a common cultural, education and media space, ease mutual trade, and strengthen the organisation’s bureaucratic structure.

The member countries’ combined GDP is 1.4tln dollars, and this year’s trade turnover between them reached over 22bn dollars.

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