Kazakhstan opened a security summit yesterday with an appeal for more regional cooperation in trade, the environment and security issues across Asia.
"In order to withstand global challenges, the world community has to join forces," Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev told the presidents of Russia, China and other leaders. "We also have to acknowledge that we don't have ready-made recipes to all the problems."
Nazarbayev said participating nations should join forces to fight "social degradation and poverty," as well as promote trade, environmental protection and coordinated responses to humanitarian disasters.
The one-day gathering in Kazakhstan's commercial capital, Almaty, follows a summit in Shanghai of a China and Russia-dominated security group that is viewed as a response to US influence in energy rich Central Asia.
In Almaty, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Hu Jintao (
The 17-member group is intended to serve as a platform for dialogue on Asia's drawn-out conflicts and other security issues.
The group's members, including such longtime adversaries as India and Pakistan, and Israel and the Palestinian Authority, last met in Almaty in 2002.
Also attending is Pakistani President General Pervez Mushar-raf. India sent its prime minister's special envoy. Israel is represented by Vice Premier Shimon Peres, while Iran sent a deputy foreign minister.
Other members are Central Asian nations that were formerly part of the Soviet Union, as well as Mongolia and Thailand.
South Korea became the group's new member yesterday.
The leaders are expected to sign an agreement on creating a permanent secretariat to be based in Almaty and adopt a declaration expressing their resolve to work toward stability in Asia.
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