ASTANA – On July 22, Kazakhstan’s Deputy Foreign Minister Yerzhan Ashikbayev and UN Resident Coordinator in the country Stephen Tull signed a Partnership Framework for Development for 2016-2020 (PFD), reported the press service of the Kazakh Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Photo credit: Kazinform.kz
The document was also signed by representatives of 21 UN entities, including ILO, OHCHR, UNAIDS, UNCTAD, UNDP, UNDPI, UNECE, UNEP, UNESCAP, UNESCO, UNFPA, UNHCR, UNICEF, UNIDO, UNISDR, UNODC, UNOPS, UNRCCA, UNV, UN Women and WHO.
The ministry considers the signing of the PFD an important step “to further development of cooperation between Kazakhstan and the UN, especially in terms of the stable socioeconomic development of Kazakhstan and determination of the main courses of the organisation’s activities within the country in the next five years,” according to its press release.
According to the press release, the document “is guided by the country’s aspirations under the Kazakhstan 2050 Strategy, five institutional reforms announced by President Nursultan Nazarbayev [and the] new economic policy Nurly Zhol (Path to the Future).” The PFD has three pillars of action: reducing disparities and improving human development, creating innovative public institutions and strengthening international and regional cooperation.
Since becoming a UN member in March 1992, Kazakhstan has been cooperating with organisations of the United Nations family. With the country’s solid economic progress, in recent years the sides began paying more attention to helping Kazakhstan build up institutional capacities for external development aid. Within this framework, Kazakhstan and the United Nations Development Programme have worked together on preparations for a launch of Kazakhstan’s Official Development Assistance (ODA) programme, under the provisional brand KazAID.
The country’s ambition to contribute more to global security and development also led to Kazakhstan announcing its first bid for a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council for 2017-2018. The motto of Kazakhstan’s campaign to reach that goal is “United for Global Security,” with four priority action areas designated as food, water, energy and nuclear security.
The foreign ministry also announced that from July 13 to 16, a Kazakh delegation participated at the United Nations Third International Conference on Financing for Development in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
During the visit, the delegation led by Ambassador-at Large Askar Tazhiyev, spoke at a number of side events of the conference related to Astana’s initiatives in a number of fields, including green and renewable energy, transport connection issues of landlocked countries, agriculture, food and energy security.
As a result of the conference, a final document was adopted titled the Addis Ababa Action Agenda, which defines sources of financing for projects on fighting poverty and diseases, promoting economic progress and environmental protection. The Action Plan was recommended for approval by the 69th session of the UN General Assembly in New York.
