ASTANA (TCA) — During her working visit to Kazakhstan on February 9, Cihan Sultanoglu, UN Assistant Secretary-General, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Assistant Administrator, Director of the Regional Bureau for Europe and CIS and UN Commissioner-General in EXPO-2017, signed an agreement of participation of the UN in EXPO-2017 in Astana with Akhmetzhan Yessimov, chairman of Astana EXPO-2017 National Company JSC Board.
The EXPO-2017, scheduled to take place between June 10 and September 10, 2017 in Astana, will gather the leading world experts to discuss the ways to make “green energy”, its availability, sustainability and economy the main development trend for further decades.
Ms. Sultanoglu highly praised Kazakhstan’s leadership in promoting the Sustainable Development Goals and as a power capable of convening a dialogue and driving a strong action around the issues of sustainable use of energy, UNDP in Kazakhstan reported.
“I am confident that the exhibition will be a fantastic opportunity for Kazakhstan to generate momentum around sustainable energy, which is so crucial for accomplishing the Sustainable Development Goals. I am sure that the EXPO will be a resounding success, and will attract a lot of positive attention from the region and the world,” said Cihan Sultanoglu.
In her role as the UN Commissioner-General in EXPO-2017, Ms. Sultanoglu coordinates the participation of the entire UN team in the exhibition. She pointed out that Kazakhstan had made an incredible journey in its development over the past 26 years, having grown into an independent upper-middle income country, with high human capital and assets. She also applauded Kazakhstan in achieving almost all of the Millennium Development Goals, which helps the country to pave the way for the successful implementation of the new 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals.
“Kazakhstan’s achievements in development and foreign policy make it a natural choice as the host of the next thematic EXPO. This honour is awarded to some of the most forward-looking countries in the world. Kazakhstan is known for its impressive abilities to build a dialogue around key issues in development,” said the UN Commissioner-General.
