Remarks of Ambassador Asoke Mukerji at the Round Table on the Constitutional Referendum of Kazakhstan, JNU/SIS, New Delhi 12.03.2026

By Ambassador: Asoke Mukerji

Permanent representative to the United Nations in New York

Ambassador of India to the Republic of Kazakhstan 2005-2007

Three referendums have been held in Kazakhstan so far on its Constitution – in 1991, in 1995 and in 2022.

The first referendum in 1991 and the second referendum in 1995 were the most significant. They helped to chart the identity of independent Kazakhstan, and its way forward.

Kazakhstan had three priorities at its independence in December 1991.

The first priority was on internal harmony between the different ethnic groups, with a conscious decision to name the country “Kazakhstan” and not “Kazakhistan”.

The second priority was on the territorial integrity of the country, particularly two challenges – the position of the large ethnic Russian population in the northern third of the country, and the potential challenges to the stability of the country from radical Islamic political movements from the south in Afghanistan.

The third priority was on the socio-economic growth of the country. Natural resources and agriculture were already prominent contributors to the socio-economic activities, with coal mining in Karaganda and agriculture in the southern regions.

The decision to have a strong Presidential system of governance emanated from these three considerations. A strong Presidential system has provided stability, resulting in strong economic growth, based on country’s natural resources – its coal, Caspian Sea oilfields, gold and uranium.

Between 1992 and 2026, Kazakhstan has maintained internal harmony.

It has navigated its territorial integrity without challenges from either Russia or from its southern borders.

In 1998, after 5 years of negotiations, it has demarcated its national borders with China. This has been a catalyst for China Kazakhstan relations, both in terms of trade and investment, and for infrastructure of the east-west alignment, providing land locked Kazakhstan and Central Asia with an outlet to the Pacific Ocean.

India’s current trade with Central Asia uses this economic corridor between China and Kazakhstan. Since March 2025, India’s port of Mundra in Gujarat has been used to access Kazakhstan using the International North South Transport Corridor’s eastern alignment.

In economic terms, Kazakhstan has used its Constitutional framework to enter into international agreements for developing its natural resources for development. This is visible in the Caspian Sea oilfields since 1994, and in the mining of minerals such as gold and uranium.

In 2006, India obtained a stake in the Satpayev Caspian Sea oilfield of Kazakhstan. Today India is the largest importer of uranium from Kazakhstan for its nuclear energy programme.

The prosperity of Kazakhstan has been used to develop its human resources, including by skilling abroad under state-funded programmes like Bolashak since 1993, and by inviting international partners to deliver and/or upgrade skilling institutions in Kazakhstan. Since 1992, India’s ITEC programme has been used actively by Kazakhstan to develop its skilled human resources in Indian institutions.

Over 12,000 Indian students currently study medicine in Kazakhstan’s medical institutes.

In terms of foreign policy, the internal priority for harmony manifested itself in Kazakhstan’s initiative for cooperation and security in Asia, known as CICA, proposed at the UNGA in 1992 itself. India joined the CICA in June 2002 at its first Summit and joined the decision to create the CICA Secretariat in 2006. From 2007, India has seconded a diplomat to work in the CICA Secretariat.

Kazakhstan has been proactive in supporting the United Nations. President Tokayev is the only Central Asian who has served as Deputy Secretary General and Director of the UN Geneva Office, and as Secretary General of the Conference on Disarmament.

Kazakhstan supported India’s bid to be elected a member of the UN Security Council for 2011-12. It became the first Central Asian state to be elected to the UN Security Council for 2017-18. It is the only Central Asian state to have deployed its troops jointly with Indian troops in UN peacekeeping in Lebanon as part of IndBatt since 2018.

For India, the proposed creation of a framework for digitalization and Artificial Intelligence adds a significant dimension to expanding bilateral digital cooperation, including through a India-Kazakhstan Digital Corridor.

This will impact on the Eurasian Economic Union and its FTA negotiations with India, as Kazakhstan chairs EAEU bodies in 2026. The fact that one of Kazakhstan’s best-known Eurasian legal experts chairs its Constitutional Commission provides comfort in taking the FTA forward.

Remarks of Ambassador Asoke Mukerji at the Round Table on the Constitutional Referendum of Kazakhstan, JNU/SIS, New Delhi 12.03.2026