ALMATY (TCA) — Cooperation with the UN remains priority direction of Kazakhstan’s foreign policy from the first days of independence, Kazakhstan Foreign Minister Kairat Abdrakhmanov said at the high-level meeting “Kazakhstan-UN: Experience, Achievements and Prospects for Cooperation” held in Almaty on February 16. The event was dedicated to the 25th anniversary of the opening of the first United Nations office in Kazakhstan, the Kazakh Foreign Ministry reported.
Abdrakhmanov in his speech noted that the key international initiatives of Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev had been introduced from the UN rostrum. The global organization is the main platform for promoting large-scale anti-nuclear and anti-war initiatives of the Kazakh Head of State.
“UN organizations and programmes have made, and are still making an outstanding contribution to Kazakhstan’s socio-economic development. At the same time, the UN provided technical and financial assistance to our country within the framework of such important projects as rehabilitation of the former Semipalatinsk test site, revival of the Aral Sea,” Abdrakhmanov said.
The Foreign Minister stressed that Kazakhstan and the United Nations are actively working together in promoting gender equality, protecting children’s rights, healthcare, ecology, migration, combating drug trafficking and other fields.
Abdrakhmanov paid special attention to the recent presidency of Kazakhstan in the most authoritative body of the organization – the UN Security Council, which focused on peacekeeping initiatives of President Nazarbayev and measures to create a zone of peace, security and development in Central Asia.
During the meeting, the UN supported the idea of Kazakhstan to establish the UN Hub in Almaty, designed to promote the implementation of Sustainable Development Goals in Central Asia until 2030.
The exchange of views on UN activities in country and regional dimensions enabled the participants to systematize the Organization’s multifaceted work and outline the prospects for interaction within the framework of the Kazakhstan-UN joint action plan approved by the meeting for 2018-2020.
The Mayor of Almaty Baurzhan Baibek, heads of UN agencies in Kazakhstan, representatives of the diplomatic corps, veterans of the diplomatic service, and representatives of the academic and expert communities also took part in the anniversary event. The head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Mayor of Almaty opened a memorial plaque in the hotel Kazakhstan, where 25 years ago the UN Office in Kazakhstan began its work.
