Kazakhstan to provide $1B humanitarian aid to Palestinians

Kazakhstan's President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev on Friday said his government will provide $1 million in humanitarian aid to Palestinians.

Speaking at the 10th leaders' summit of the Organization of Turkic States (OTS) in Astana, Tokayev said the ongoing escalation in Gaza could lead to "most serious consequences."

Israel has bombarded Gaza since the Oct. 7 surprise cross border attack by Palestinian group Hamas. It recently expanded the military campaign with ground invasion. There have been widespread calls for a cease-fire, but all have been ignored by Tel Aviv.

Besides casualties and displacement, Gaza's 2.3 million residents are grappling with shortages of food, water, fuel, and medicine due to Israel's blockade of the enclave.

Tokayev also criticized "stagnation" in the work of the UN Security Council and urged states to be "more constructive" on issue of its reformation.

Turning to the OTS affairs, the Kazakh president emphasized the need to introduce common standards and terms and conditions in Turkic states, saying it will open free way for the movement of goods to the common market.

"Unified standards will ensure annual GDP growth of about 1%. Now the gross domestic product of our countries is almost $1.4 trillion. This year, the trade turnover between the members of the organization exceeded $22 billion. This indicator can be increased by 1.5 times if the unified standards are approved," he stressed.

Tokayev also emphasized the necessity to appoint permanent representatives to the OTS and to increase its staff, establish several centers aimed to address issues such as election monitoring.

"We support the initiative to assign observer status to the Economic Cooperation Organization. We also propose cooperation with the Islamic Organization for Food Security," he said.

The Kazakh leader underlined importance of strengthening security cooperation, saying challenges related to arms and drug trafficking, terrorism, extremism, and migration are growing.

"In this regard, I propose to hold the third meeting of the general secretaries of the National Security Councils in Astana next year. It is important to conclude an agreement on the joint fight against crime and the exchange of information between the financial investigation bodies of the Turkic states," he said.

Tokayev also thanked his counterparts for supporting initiative on granting Astana the status of "financial center of the Turkic world."