Senate Committee, Foreign Office discuss official development assistance

ASTANA. KAZINFORM Senate Committee on Foreign Relations Defense and Security and the leadership of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan held a meeting discussing the implementation of the Law On Official Development Assistance, Kazinform refers to the press service of the upper chamber.

Opening the meeting, the chair of the Senate Committee, Dariga Nazarbayeva stressed that rendering assistance to global development is one of the priorities of Kazakhstan's foreign policy, adding that over the past 20 years the country had provided about $450 million in assistance, a significant amount for a developing country such as Kazakhstan, she stressed.

At the same time, she noted that prior to adopting the law, there has been no systematic approach or proper coordination in this area and the concept of official development assistance was not regulated in any way.

In his turn, Deputy Foreign Minister Yerzhan Ashikbayev presented a report on the results of the work on the implementation of the law and asked them to support the idea of creating a national operator for official development assistance, KazAID. According to him, KazAID should become a key element of the national system of official development assistance. He stressed that its establishment would reinforce Kazakhstan's prestige in the region, as well as contribute to improving the economic situation in neighboring countries.

Summing up the meeting, Dariga Nazarbayeva emphasized the importance of international assistance and pointed out the shortcomings in explanatory work. According to her, the international community and the people of Kazakhstan are not familiar with the country's efforts in terms of providing humanitarian and official development assistance. She stressed that Foreign Office should work harder in this regard, as such activities characterize the country as a responsible member of the international community.