ANTALYA — President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev called for greater responsibility and pragmatism among global leaders and renewed efforts to reform the United Nations during remarks at the Antalya Diplomacy Forum on April 17, where The Astana Times was present. Former Foreign Minister and Member of the Parliament and Head of the Turkish Delegation to NATO PA Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu; Kassym-Jomart Tokayev; Gordana Siljanovska Davkova; Irakli Kobakhidze.
Photo credit: ADF Speaking at a high-level panel, Tokayev emphasized that leadership today should be defined by restraint and accountability, particularly in matters of international peace and security. “I would say the most important thing: global leadership and those people who are heading their own states in each part of the world must be responsible with regard to international security and peace, and then must be very much restrained.
Strategic restraint plays an extremely important role nowadays,” he said. Tokayev pointed to growing regional conflicts that increasingly spill beyond their borders and become global in scale. “Regional conflicts nowadays go far beyond regional dimensions. They become global,” he added.
Tokayev stressed that while the United Nations remains “indispensable and universal,” its effectiveness is being undermined by long-standing structural issues. Kassym-Jomart Tokayev. Photo credit: The Astana Times/ Assel Satubaldina “Everyone is speaking about the necessity of supporting the UN, it is true, as well as everybody saying it deserves to be not only supported but reformed,” Tokayev said.
“We should be very frank that nobody believes it might be the case very soon, at least.” He acknowledged that discussions about reforming the UN had begun a long time ago but had not reached any meaningful conclusions. “We must be very sincere to say that it is the Security Council that serves as an impediment to reforming the UN,” he said.
Tokayev also raised concerns about the diminishing role of international institutions and the growing influence of emerging technologies.