ALMATY, Kazakhstan (TCA) — On November 15-16, the First Regional Summit on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) on the theme “Mobilization of financial resources for the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals” was held in Almaty, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan reported.
The Summit, organized with the support of the Asian Development Bank and the UN Development Program in Kazakhstan, was attended by senior representatives of international organizations and financial institutions, government bodies, the business community, civil society, as well as academia and experts from Central Asia, including Minister of Energy of Azerbaijan Parviz Shahbazov and ex-President of Kyrgyzstan and SDG activist Roza Otunbayeva.
The program of the Summit consisted of 6 sessions: “Mobilizing finance for SDGs: identifying gaps and opportunities”; “Focus on planet: water, energy and climate change”; “Focus on Partnership: Strengthening Regional Cooperation”; “Financing of water resources”; “Energy financing” and “Climate resilience financing”.
In his welcoming remarks First Deputy Prime Minister – Minister of Finance of Kazakhstan Mr. Alikhan Smailov said that about 80% of the SDGs are included in the strategic documents and programs of Kazakhstan. He underlined that the current priorities are to determine the list of projects and resources for the implementation of the SDGs, budget allocation and attracting the private sector.
Yerzhan Ashikbayev, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan, in his speech at the thematic session devoted to strengthening international partnership for the implementation of the SDGs, noted the importance of strengthening dialogue with all stakeholders at the national, regional and global levels, as well as more active use of the potential of new donors, funds and the private sector for financing sustainable development, along with traditional sources.
Ashikbayev emphasized the timeliness of Kazakhstan’s initiative to create a Regional Center for SDGs in Almaty under the auspices of the UN, which will assist the countries of Central Asia and Afghanistan in implementing global development goals. He also noted the importance of Kazakhstan’s international initiatives in this area, including the proposal of the First President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev, to allocate 1% of the military budgets of the UN member states for development purposes.
