External news in brief

Kairat Abdrakhmanov, Permanent Representative of the Republic of Kazakhstan to the United Nations, and Enrique Garcia Gonzalez, Permanent Representative of the Republic of El Salvador to the United Nations, signed a joint communiqué on establishing diplomatic relations between the two states on Jan. 30 in New York.

The ATOM project, an international initiative of President Nursultan Nazarbayev, was presented on Jan. 31 at the United Nations in New York as part of the conference, “Promoting Peace through Education”, put together by the Committee on Teaching about the United Nations (CTAUN). More than 700 activists, teachers and students took part in the event. Kazakhstan’s mission to the UN presented the ATOM Project. Participants of the conference were able to learn about the tragic history of nuclear testing in Kazakhstan and its steps to strengthen the non-proliferation regime and achieve tangible progress in global nuclear disarmament. One of the organizers of the event, University of New Jersey professor Ruth Nielsen noted that “The ATOM Project is committed to stopping nuclear weapons testing, as well as building a greater awareness about nuclear disarmament, global nuclear arsenals, and nuclear weapons policy.” During the conference, participants signed the ATOM Project’s online petition calling on governments of the world to achieve the entry into force of the Comprehensive Nuclear Tests Ban Treaty and make a new important step towards a nuclear weapons free world.

A Feb. 4 presidential decree appointed Kairat Sarybay as Kazakhstan’s ambassador to Austria and made him permanent representative of Kazakhstan to international organisations in Vienna. Before the appointment, Sarybay was deputy minister of foreign affairs of Kazakhstan. Former Ambassador to Austria Kairat Abdrakhmanov has now become Kazakhstan’s representative to the United Nations in New York.

Nurbakh Rustemov, Kazakhstan’s ambassador to Hungary and concurrently to Serbia, delivered his credentials to President of Serbia Tomislav Nikolic at Serbia’s National Palace on Feb. 4. After the ceremony, Nikolic and Rustemov spoke. Nikolic congratulated the Kazakh diplomat on his appointment and expressed his satisfaction with the state of bilateral relations between Kazakhstan and Serbia, stressing the friendly nature of the political dialogue. The president conveyed his best wishes to all and said he was looking forward to Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s official visit to Belgrade. In turn, Rustemov expressed Kazakhstan’s commitment to maintaining constructive and mutually beneficial cooperation with Serbia, intensifying trade and economic, investment, cultural and humanitarian cooperation. Kazakhstan and Serbia are aligned on many international issues. Serbia consistently supported Kazakhstan’s bid to chair the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and supports Kazakhstan’s candidacy for a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council for 2017-2018.

Ambassador of Japan Masayoshi Kamohara, Ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan Shaukat Ali Mukadi, Ambassador of the Sultanate of Oman Saeed bin Mohammed bin Ali Al-Bars, Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands Henri Hubert Drisser and Ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan Muhammad Farooq Baraki all presented their credentials to President Nazarbayev on Jan. 31. Nazarbayev congratulated the ambassadors on the beginning of their diplomatic missions in Kazakhstan. “I am confident that your work will give a new impetus to multilateral relations. You are beginning your missions in Kazakhstan during a very important period for the country. We are currently working on a new model of development for the country. Two weeks ago, I delivered the state-of-the-nation address. I proposed a plan for how to achieve the Kazakhstan 2050 strategy in it,” the President said. He noted that the key goal of the strategy is to become one of the 30 most developed countries in the world.


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