The Pope’s visit, a diplomatic challenge for Kazakhstan

It is a high-tech glass pyramid, designed by the great British architect Norman Foster, whose blue and white tiles stand on a windswept esplanade. Completed in 2006, the “Palace of Peace and Reconciliation” was built specifically to host the Congresses of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions in the capital Nursultan. It is here that opens, this Tuesday, September 13, the seventh edition of this event, in which Pope Francis participates, visiting Kazakhstan until September 15.

The desire to organize these interreligious meetings may come as a surprise on the part of this post-Soviet state in Central Asia, still little known 31 years after its independence. It suffices, however, to take a look at the plan of its new capital, nicknamed « the Dubai of the steppes », to understand that this summit is not a trivial event. Planted on a perfectly straight axis threading from east to west the obelisk of Independence Square, the colossal presidential palace, the Bayterek tower (symbol of the city) or the immense glass tent Khan Shatyr , the pyramid testifies to the insertion of this interreligious summit in an overall project aimed at shaping the image, but also the foreign policy of Kazakhstan.

A multi-vector foreign policy

The organization of major international events is indeed one of the favorite instruments of Kazakh leaders to promote their country as an important actor on the international scene. Over the past decade, Kazakhstan has hosted a major OSCE conference and international exposition, established a regular economic forum, and attempted – unsuccessfully – to host the 2022 Winter Olympics. part of a larger strategy.

“Kazakhstan’s foreign policy is multi-vectorexplains Adrien Fauve, director of the French Institute for Central Asian Studies. It aims not to depend on a single power – Russia, China or the United States – but to find a balance between many partners, and to present itself as a platform for dialogue and encounter in multiple fields, including the economy. , sport and diplomacy. »

These diplomatic ambitions are illustrated by Kazakhstan’s efforts to get elected as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council in 2017, or to position itself as a player in the peace processes in Syria and Ukraine since 2015. “The religious domain is an interesting extension of this policy with non-state actors”, continues Adrien Fauve.

“Between Charybdis and Scylla”

For President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, a seasoned diplomat who came to power in 2019, it is also a question of showing that he can organize major international meetings, after more than thirty years of hyper-presidency of Nursultan Nazarbayev. The insistence on dialogue, peace and tolerance will also come at the right time to turn the page on the violent uprisings of January 2022, during which more than 200 people were killed and which ended in a Russian military intervention in the appeal of the Kazakh government.

However, the international situation has nothing to do with that of January 2022. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has since created a gaping gap between Russia and Western countries, two essential partners between which the Kazakhstan wants at all costs to avoid having to choose. Very close to Russia, but concerned about its imperialist turn, Kazakhstan has refused to recognize the independence of the separatist republics of Donbass, and has let it be known that it will not circumvent Western sanctions, for fear of suffering them in turn.

“Kazakhstan’s foreign policy is currently struggling to maintain the geopolitical balance between Russia and the West and limit damage,” analyzes Nargis Kassenova, researcher at Harvard, in a note published in early September. At a time when diplomacy is becoming a balancing act, the congress of religions will perhaps offer an opportunity for the country to pass more easily, in the words of President Tokayev, “between Charybdis and Scylla”.