ASTANA, Oct 13: US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Thursday that Central Asia’s economic development must go hand in hand with more democratization. “Political and economic freedom must go together and complete each other,” Rice said in a speech at the Eurasian University of Astana, on the second day of a visit to Kazakhstan.
“Stability requires legitimacy and true legitimacy requires democracy,” she said, adding, “It is urgent work that cannot be deferred.”
Kazakhstan was the second to last stop on Rice’s tour of Central Asian countries and followed an unscheduled visit to Pakistan.
Her speech was seen as a response to a recent statement by Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev that economic progress must take priority.
She later held talks with Nazarbayev, who has been in power since before the break-up of the Soviet Union in 1991 and is seeking another seven year term in elections on December 4.
Opposition leaders, who have accused the authorities of stepping up pressure on them with the approach of the elections, criticized Rice’s remarks as not going far enough.
“Tolerance and freedom provides a shield against extremism,” Rice said in her speech. “I do think it is critical to have free and fair elections.”
“It is extremely important for the opposition to have the ability to mobilize, to gather their views together ... free of intimidation of any kind,” she added.
She pressed the point in a press conference following her talks with Nazarbayev, saying that ‘Kazakhstan has an opportunity to lead this region in the democratic process’.
“Kazakhstan could be a pillar for tremendous progress in Central Asia,” she added.
Nazarbayev for his part called his talks with Rice ‘fruitful and interesting’ and pledged that the December election would be democratic.
“We appreciate the support of the United States in our economic reforms and our efforts towards democracy,” he said, while adding that democratization stemmed from ‘economic development and the prosperity of the people’.
Kazakhstan is a US ally in the region, opening its air space to coalition planes used in Afghanistan in 2001 to overthrow the Taliban regime and also sending a small contingent of some 40 soldiers to Iraq.
Rice called US-Kazakh relations ‘excellent’ in the fight against terrorism.
She later flew on to Dushanbe, capital of Tajikistan, for talks with President Emomali Rakhmonov, another regional leader criticized for repression of media and human rights.
