An international conference on “Promoting Transport and Transit Connectivity in Central Asia and Beyond”

An international conference on “Promoting Transport and Transit Connectivity in Central Asia and Beyond” is taking place today in Almaty at the al-Farabi Kazakh National University. The conference was co-organized by the al-Farabi University’s Department of International Relations, Michigan State University and the Institute for Global Engagement, in partnership with the Almaty office of the Kazakhstan Institute for Strategic Studies, with the support of the U.S. Embassy in the Republic of Kazakhstan.

The conference was organized within the framework of the annual Academic Forum “Третьи Фарабиевские чтения”, as well as the realization of the activities of the university as a global hub of UNAI and the Programmes of the United Nations on Academic Impact. The theme of theConference reflects the Goal 9 of the plan “UN Sustainable Development”: to create a flexible infrastructure, contribute to inclusive and sustainable industrialization and encourage innovations, to develop high-quality, reliable, stable and robust
infrastructure, including the regional and cross-border infrastructure in order to support economic development and human well-being with particular emphasis on real and equal access for all.

The international projects and initiatives for the development of transport corridors in Central and South Asia in the context of new regional realitieswill be presented and discussed during the conference. The conference brings together representatives of international development organizations and financial institutions and experts from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan and the United States.
M.M.Burkitbayev, the Vice-Rector of al-FarabiKazakh National University,Mark Moody,GeneralConsul of USin Almaty,Nurgaliyeva M.,Head of Delegation of the Kazakhstan Institute for Strategic Studies under the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, as well as a visiting professor of the State University of Michigan, and a senior fellow at the Institute for Global interaction,Martha Brill Olcott performed with a welcoming speechin the plenary session. The participants of the conference listeneda plenary report of the Director of the
Institute for Security and Cooperation issues al-FarabiKazNU, K.I.Baizakova”The role of Kazakhstan in the development of a stable and strong infrastructure in Central Asia: towards theGoals of the achievement of the sustainable development”.