Foreign Ministry holds briefing for diplomatic corps on Kazakhstan's initiatives
Umarov informed foreign diplomats about Kazakhstan's initiatives on the establishment of an International Agency for Biological Safety (IABS) in Geneva (Switzerland) and the UN Regional Hub on Sustainable Development for Central Asian Countries and Afghanistan in Almaty, as well as the promotion of restoring sovereign equality in the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna (Austria).
Kairat Umarov noted that against the backdrop of the painful aftermath of the global COVID-19 pandemic the President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev launched the initiative to establish IABS. The Agency’s objective is to strengthen the global biological safety by preventing use of biological developments for military purposes and promoting peaceful biological research. This platform will also assist experience exchange and further cooperation between developed and developing countries. The majority of the UN Member-States positively evaluate Kazakhstan’s initiative.
He also informed about Kazakhstan’s promoting the initiative on the creation of a UN Regional Center for Sustainable Development for Central Asian countries and Afghanistan, with the goal of transforming the region into a zone of peace, security and prosperity.
The Center may be located in the UN Plaza – a building inaugurated by President Tokayev in 2019 in Almaty, which already houses the offices of 18 UN Agencies. The creation of a Regional Center would strengthen coordination of the UN agencies’ activity in assisting Kazakhstan’s and other Central-Asian countries’ efforts to eradicate poverty, combat climate change, promote gender equality, improve social and economic indicators etc.
With regard to the IAEA, the Kazakh diplomat stressed that Kazakhstan, being a responsible member-state of the Agency, does not belong to any of its regional groups, which makes impossible a comprehensive participation in the work of this international body. Kazakhstan intends to table a resolution for review by the IAEA General Conference in September 2023 aimed at restoring the rights of the countries that do not belong to IAEA’s regional groups.
