Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and the United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres hosted a teleconference to discuss practical measures taken by Kazakhstan and the United Nations to tackle the pandemic.
Tokayev and Guterres also had a phone call back in March, when the sides discussed ways to strengthen global cooperation . Photo credit Akorda press service
Tokayev praised the UN Secretary-General’s active actions to ease the negative impact of the pandemic on national healthcare systems and stressed the central role of the organization and its agencies in leading the global anti-crisis efforts.
Kazakhstan supports the UN initiatives that are meant to strengthen global security and revive the global economy, said Tokayev.
Guterres also thanked Tokayev for his country’s steady support of the UN’s global agenda and the significant contribution to the fight against the pandemic. He praised the country’s approach to healthcare, providing financial assistance to vulnerable groups, supporting businesses, and developing the new post-crisis economic agenda.
Guterres also spoke positively of the country’s chairmanship of the Group of Landlocked Developing Countries (LLDC) that Kazakhstan, the world’s largest landlocked country located the farthest distance from the oceans, assumed in January for the 2020-2021 term.
The group includes 32 nations – 16 in Africa; ten in Asia, including all five Central Asian countries and Afghanistan; four in Europe and two in South America.
The UN Secretary-General invited Tokayev to join the Financing for Development in the Era of COVID-19 and Beyond action group that will take place on May 28 as an online summit gathering world leaders and heads of multilateral institutions to focus on implementing ways to support developing countries amid the ongoing pandemic.
Tokayev, who accepted the invitation, expressed his hope in a global effort to handle the threats stemming from the pandemic and ensure that the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals agenda will become a reality by 2023.
