Watch: How the 'New Silk Road' Can Connect the Countries of Central Asia
At an Asia Society New York event on September 23, held in conjunction with United Nations General Assembly 2014, Deputy Secretary of State William J. Burns joined foreign officials from Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrzgyzstan, and Pakistan to discuss the possibilities for building greater economic connectivity throughout Central Asia. You can watch highlights from the event above.
"This region is critical to global security. It is a region full of economic opportunity and human potential. Our shared objective is not to supplant the region's vibrant East-West connections, but to supplement and complement them with equally vibrant North-South connections," said Burns. A full transcript of his remarks is available here.
Erlan Idrissov, Foreign Minister of Kazakhstan, said that his country, the largest land-locked nation in the world, shares a vision of building a "New Silk Road" for Central Asia.
"Our policy is to make sure that connectivity grows in all directions. The purpose which we [set] for ourselves is to make sure that land-lockedness is turned into land-linkedness," Idrissov said.