SM Teo Chee Hean at the 46th Singapore Lecture

Your Excellency Kassym-Jomart Tokayev,
President of the Republic of Kazakhstan,
Excellencies,
Distinguished Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen.

A very warm welcome to all of you.

We are honoured to have His Excellency President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev of the Republic of Kazakhstan with us this morning for the 46th Singapore Lecture. President Tokayev is on his first State Visit to Singapore and is the first Central Asian President to deliver the Singapore Lecture.

Kazakhstan – The Heart of Eurasia

Kazakhstan is the world’s 9th largest country in terms of land area and is the largest economy in Central Asia. It is an emerging Middle Power, with over 20 million people and GDP per capita of about US$11,500. Kazakhstan has a young demographic profile with half of the population below the age of 30. It is rich in natural resources, including oil, natural gas, and various ores.

Kazakhstan is strategically located at the heart of Eurasia, connecting China in the East with Europe to the West. 80% of China’s overland trade with Europe transits through Kazakhstan. It was no coincidence that when President Xi Jinping announced the Belt and Road Initiative in September 2013, he did so in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan. Since then, Kazakhstan has developed the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route, or Middle Corridor, to boost its standing as a transit hub. In the past three decades, Kazakhstan received 70% of the foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows to Central Asia, valued at some US$431 billion.

Kazakhstan also has a rich history and incredible natural beauty. Kazakh culture combines its nomadic heritage with the Eastern and Western influences that flowed through the Silk Road. I witnessed this first hand in 2018 when I travelled by train across Central Asia on a ten-day private trip that ended in Almaty, a beautiful city. It was a fascinating journey.

Bilateral Relations

Singapore enjoys excellent relations with Kazakhstan, underpinned by warm personal ties between our leaders. Singapore’s founding Prime Minister, Mr Lee Kuan Yew, visited Kazakhstan in September of 1991, shortly before Kazakhstan’s independence. Mr Lee had been asked to provide his advice on Kazakhstan’s development. Since then, there has been a healthy exchange of visits between both sides. I had the pleasure of visiting Kazakhstan officially in 2019 and President Tokayev very kindly received me in a call. Last year, we commemorated the 30th anniversary of diplomatic relations with then President Halimah Yacob’s State Visit to Kazakhstan – the first by a Singapore Head of State to Central Asia.

On the economic front, Kazakhstan is Singapore’s largest trade partner in Central Asia, with bilateral trade in goods of S$600 million last year. Kazakhstan is also the largest Central Asian investor in Singapore, with FDI stock of S$1.3 billion in 2022. Last year, Singapore and Kazakhstan signed a Services and Investment Agreement under the Eurasian Economic Union-Singapore Free Trade Agreement.

We have also made progress in enhancing connectivity between both countries, and we welcome Air Astana’s plans to launch flights to Singapore in the future. This would promote stronger people-to-people ties through tourism and cultural exchanges.

President Tokayev

President Tokayev has served as President of Kazakhstan since 2019. He is a good friend of Singapore and knows us well. Prior to his political career, President Tokayev had a distinguished career as a diplomat, which included serving in Singapore during the 1970s, and in Beijing during the fateful year of 1989. Not long after Kazakhstan’s independence, President Tokayev was appointed Deputy Foreign Minister, and later Foreign Minister. President Tokayev subsequently served as Prime Minister from 1999 to 2002, and as Chairman of the Senate twice. At the international level, President Tokayev was Under-Secretary General of the United Nations and Director-General of the United Nations Office in Geneva, and concurrently Secretary-General of the Conference on Disarmament from 2011 to 2013. He speaks several languages, including Chinese, Russian, and French.

Given President Tokayev’s extensive experience in diplomacy, I look forward to hearing his views on the complex geopolitical environment and how middle powers like Kazakhstan can navigate these challenges. Before I went to Kazakhstan in 2019, I read President Tokayev’s book which he wrote. It is a fascinating read, because of his incredible diplomatic journey. He wrote this book when he was Foreign Minister, and since then he has accumulated much more experience.

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, on the surface, Kazakhstan and Singapore could not be more different. Kazakhstan is a huge country with an enormous land mass. It has so much resources and is land-locked. Singapore is so small; we have no resources and we are an island. But, in many ways, we do have commonalities. Singapore has to deal, as a small country, with bigger neighbours in our region. Kazakhstan is so big, but it has even bigger neighbours to deal with. So we understand each other quite instinctively. While Kazakhstan is land-locked, it sits along major land routes in Eurasia. We are an island, and we sit along maritime routes.

While Kazakhstan and Singapore are in different regions, there is scope for ASEAN and the five Central Asian states (or C5) to work together in areas of mutual interest. We share a common desire to promote an open and inclusive rules-based global order. COVID-19 has also demonstrated the need for greater cooperation across regions to tackle serious global challenges, including climate change and future pandemics.

Excellencies, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, it is now my great pleasure and honour to invite President Tokayev to deliver the 46th Singapore Lecture, on “Kazakhstan and Role of the Middle Powers: Fostering Security, Stability and Sustainable Development”. President Tokayev, please.