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[Speech prepared for the Round Table “Kazakhstan in the Era of Artificial Intelligence”, 7 October 2025, Grand Hotel Bucharest, organized by MEPEI (The Middle East Political and Economic Institute) and EuroDefense Romania, in partnership with the Embassy of the Republic of Kazakhstan to Romania]

Before we discuss artificial intelligence, let’s test a bit of human intel.

When carefully scrutinizing Romania–Kazakhstan relations, we have in mind a case study of Europe–Asia ties — between two countries coming from geographical and historical paradigms that make them so deeply different, yet (who knows?) surprisingly compatible.

But here comes the twist of the topic: could Kazakhstan still be considered an Asian country when one of its football clubs — Kairat Almaty — plays in the UEFA Champions League, Europe’s top competition in the “king of sports,” while Romania’s champions, FCSB — “formerly celebrated as Steaua Bucharest” (a joke for pundits) — doesn’t? So, who’s European and who’s not?

It’s a funny question, but a revealing one. Geography tells us one thing, yet ambition and networks often redraw the maps.

Kazakhstan, like Romania, lives on borderlines that time has turned into bridges. And perhaps that makes us particularly well placed to understand how ideas — economic and political, technical-scientific and cultural-artistic — flow across regions and peoples.

If we ask what Romania and Kazakhstan have in common, most people would probably mention KazMunayGas and Rompetrol, or recall that the (in)famous opening scenes from the Borat series, supposedly set in Kazakhstan, were filmed in Romania. Or maybe even our football matches.

But beyond those curiosities, there is something more profound. Both countries stand at crossroads — between East and West, between tradition and modernity, between raw resources and refined intelligence. We are societies that metabolize influences, turning flows of energy, ideas, and people into engines of renewal. Still, these affinities need to be rediscovered, re-valued, and reinforced — for they are, honestly, below potential.

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Which brings us to today’s topic: Kazakhstan in the Era of Artificial Intelligence.

President Tokayev’s recent State of the Nation Address laid out an ambitious roadmap: Kazakhstan aims to become a fully digitalized nation within the next three years. That’s not a slogan; it’s a statement of intent — a declaration that the country wants to become a model of AI governance and digital transformation in the heart of Eurasia.

Perhaps Romania could take inspiration from this boldness — by the way, so inspired and inspiring is the Kazakh slogan “Born Bold.” (Joking, typographically, in the case of Romania, it would be inappropriate to adapt such a catchphrase, because an allusion to our Latin roots would sound like “Born Italic,” which might unfortunately suggest a certain… vertebral incline that historically might be associated with some unworthy leaders, but not to our nation as a whole. Closing this sidenote, in both political and public diplomacy, maybe especially in the field of country-brand statements, the power of words should never be minimized.)

For years we have admired the Baltic states, especially Estonia, as the digital champions of Central and Eastern Europe. But maybe we should start dreaming differently — not of becoming “a new Estonia,” but rather “Kazakhstan-like digitally aware.”

Kazakhstan’s digital transformation is not just about apps and algorithms; it’s about vision and velocity — about how a nation redefines its development model in a world where code and capital, data and diplomacy, are increasingly intertwined.

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Kazakhstan’s agenda for AI, digitalization, and institutional modernization speaks not only to its domestic resilience but also to its regional role. In an age when connectivity is the new currency, Kazakhstan is building a new Silk Road — made not only of pipelines and railways, but of data cables and intelligent infrastructures.

And this has resonance for Romania. We, too, aspire to become a regional hub — of energy, of transport, of digital networks (a fancy long before becoming a fact?). But hubs are not built by location alone; they are built by trust, interoperability, and human capital.

Here, Kazakhstan’s experiment can inspire us. It shows how a country can use technology not to imitate others but to define its own pathway of modernization. The lesson is simple but profound: technology should not make us more similar — it should make us more sovereign.

Looking ahead, it would be fascinating to see Kazakhstan’s digital vision connect more deeply with Europe’s regional projects. What needs to be emphasized is that, realistically, in our part of the continent, we could become more magnetic, more gravitational, more attractive by bundling national forces. Look, for instance, at the increased value of each and every country within a truly functional, interconnected, and synergistic Three Seas Initiative (3SI).

Imagine the 3SI stretching not only between the Baltic, Adriatic, and Black Seas, but extending in spirit toward Central Asia. The digital corridors, energy routes, and innovation networks that bind Central and Eastern Europe could naturally reach into the heart of Eurasia — where Kazakhstan sits as both anchor and bridge.

Why not explore wittily (and then exploit wisely) Kazakhstan’s eventual status as a strategic partner of the 3SI?

This is not geopolitical fantasy; it’s the logic of connectivity in the twenty-first century. In a world fragmented by rivalry, initiatives like these remind us that cooperation — especially in intelligent infrastructure — is the real driver of prosperity.

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So, as we navigate this “era of artificial intelligence,” perhaps the deeper question is not how intelligent our machines can become, but how humane our intelligence — and intuition, and inspiration — remains.

Artificial intelligence may optimize our economies, but it is human intelligence-plus that must orient them. It may accelerate communication, but it is human judgment that must give it meaning.

Romania and Kazakhstan, each in their way, have learned to live at the frontier of worlds — to be both peripheral and central, distant and connected. Maybe that’s our shared talent: to turn eccentricity into relevance, and gaps into dialogue.

So, whether artificially intelligent or just humanly smart, let us make our reciprocal experience less exotic, less episodic — and more exemplary and explicit.

Because intelligence, in the end, is not about how we compute — but about how we connect.

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Context

MEPEI (The Middle East Political and Economic Institute) and EuroDefense Romania, in partnership with the Embassy of the Republic of Kazakhstan to Romania organized, on October 7, 2025, at the Grand Hotel Bucharest, the Round Table “Kazakhstan in the Era of Artificial Intelligence”.

The roundtable addressed the topic of the Key Takeaways from President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev’s State of the Nation Address to the People of Kazakhstan, delivered on September 8, 2025. The President presented a series of political and economic reform proposals, centred around economic modernization, AI, digitalization, institutional change and supporting Kazakhstan’s long-term resilience. The Kazakh model of digital modernization creates pathways for international cooperation, establishing common standards of AI governance, thus opening space for initiatives for digital cross-border infrastructure or through partnerships for energy and transport. At the Bucharest roundtable, it was debated how Romania can deepen and expand its relations with Kazakhstan in the light of the priorities set in President’s State of the Nation Address.

The event benefited the presence of distinguished representatives of governmental authorities, NGOs, academia think-tanks, businesspersons, civil society, and mass media.

Moderator: Flavius CABA-MARIA, President, MEPEI

Opening Speech: H.E. Mr. Ali YERLIK, Ambassador of Republic of Kazakhstan to Romania

Speakers:

- Liviu MUREȘAN, President, EuroDefense Romania;

- Alexandru GEORGESCU, Scientific Reseacher, National Institute for Research and Development in Informatics ICI-Bucharest;

- Iuliu STOCKLOSA, President, Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Bucharest (CCIB);

- Mihail George GURANDA, Senior Expert in Legal and Regulatory Affairs, Strategic Policy Advisor, former Superior Manager of Regulatory Division DNSC;

- Emil RAPCEA, Career Diplomat, Former Ambassador of Romania to Kazakhstan;

- Mihai SEBE, Head of Unit, European Affairs Department, European Institute of Romania, and Lecturer, University of Bucharest;

- Ecaterina MAȚOI, Program Director, MEPEI, and President, Strategic Dialogue for Global Affairs Initiative (SDGAi);

- Octavian-Dragomir JORA, Assistant Professor, Bucharest University of Economic Studies (ASE), Founder Editor-in-Chief, The Market for Ideas magazine.