Gossip Tory

Article By Isaac Duffy.

The launch of a new foreign relations group, Conservative friends of central Asia has surfaced today.  The new group, chaired by Conservative Party member Thomas Kingston and it’s vice chairman Calum Heaton-Gent, has been set up to improve Anglo and central Asian relations. The group defined its mission as to promote Conservative values of freedom, democracy, community, and enterprise and to harness support amongst the Central Asian community in the UK for Conservative values and the Conservative Party.

CFCA’s new Chairman, Thomas Kingston, said:

‘It was founded after we saw how the Central Asian states were pretty much out of the general awareness and yet they had been key allies in military issues. The fact that these nations were until relatively recently members of a Communist superpower and have emerging market economies appealed to my Conservative concerns regarding political and economic freedom, so I thought I’d see what I could do to raise awareness of their history, culture and role as well as supporting democracy, market reform and trade links between the UK and those nations. Though it’s early days we’re already looking at hosting a number of lectures featuring diplomatic and academic figures from around the world as well as social events including trips to Kazakh restaurants and themed quizzes. I’ve been blessed to have support develop at a reasonably fast rate and I look forward to working closely with my exec team and with anyone else who may be interested in the aims of our group.’

The group plans to encourage people of all ages and ethnicities to join and is currently free admission. As the new Head of Youth Engagement for CFCA, I can certainly say it plans to be a very diverse and progressive organization.

If you are interested in joining Conservative Friends of Central Asia, please contact Thomas Kingston or Calum Heaton Gent.