Kazakhstan and UN, a long-term dynamic and fruitful cooperation

ASTANA. March 2. KAZINFORM Since the early days of its independence, Kazakhstan has been actively participating in the work of the United Nations and its specialised agencies. The country joined the organisation's family on March 2 of 1992, and the cooperation has since been one of the priorities of the state's foreign policy, the press service of the Kazakh Foreign Ministry reports.

"Two days after the declaration of independence of Kazakhstan on 16 December 1991, on instructions from President Nursultan Nazarbayev, I went to New York to organise cooperation between Kazakhstan and the United Nations," the first Permanent Representative of Kazakhstan to the UN from 1992 to 1999, Ambassador at Large at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Akmaral Arystanbekova commented. "I recall the shock and confusion that prevailed in the United Nations in the last days of 1991 following the collapse of the Soviet Union. But I also remember the sincere sympathy and support of member states for the newly independent states of the former Soviet Union, including Kazakhstan," she added.

Kazakhstan has made historic contributions in the field of nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation by voluntarily eliminating its nuclear arsenal, acceding to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) as a non-nuclear state, ratifying the Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) and shutting down the former Semipalatinsk nuclear testing ground, thus ensuring global and regional stability. Furthermore, in December 2009, on Kazakhstan's initiative, the UN General Assembly unanimously adopted a resolution establishing August 29 as the International Day against Nuclear Tests.

"Over the past sixty five years, the United Nations has made an enormous contribution to peace and security on our planet and to the solution of many social, economic, humanitarian and other problems. It is in our common interests that the United Nations continues to demonstrate leadership in promoting peace, and cooperation and sustainable progress on Earth. Kazakhstan not only has consistently supported the activities of the United Nations, but always seeks to contribute to the attainment of the lofty goals set by our common venerable organisation," Secretary of State - Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan Kanat Saudabayev said at the 65^th Session of the UN General Assembly in New York on September 25, 2010.

President Nazarbayev's initiatives on convening the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) and the Congress of World and Traditional Religions, as well as active position on regional integration have deserved international recognition and contributed significantly to the cause of peace, security and economic prosperity of the countries of Eurasia.

"Kazakhstan has long been an active proponent of strengthening the United Nations through reform. As a universal and influential organisation, the United Nations must be the centre for addressing key international issues and continue to play an indispensable coordinating role in all global affairs," the current Permanent Representative of Kazakhstan to the UN Byrganym Aitimova said.

The UN System specialised agencies, programmes and funds, where each has its own area of expertise, focus and mandate, have been operating in the country in accordance with the UN Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF), a document which describes the collective response of the UN system to national development priorities and needs within the framework of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and other international development commitments. The Framework is based on five inter-related programming principles, including human rights based approach, gender equality, environmental sustainability, results based management, and capacity development, where Executive Committee (ExCom) agencies, which include the UN Development Programme (UNDP), the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), and UN Population Fund (UNFPA), based on the UNDAF outcomes, develop and sign their Country Programme Action Plans with the state's government.

Kazakhstan's previous UNDAF for 2005-09 has been successfully completed, and UNDAF for 2010-15 is now operational. The overall goal of the UNDAF 2010-15 is to assist Kazakhstan in achieving its national competitiveness agenda with a focus on human development for all, while the new programme covers three strategic areas of cooperation. The first is the economic and social well-being of people, particularly of vulnerable groups, including women, children, migrants, refugees, youth, elderly, and disabled. The second is the environmental sustainability; and the third is the effective governance, including deepened institutional capacities, civil society and media empowerment, and stronger attention to human rights.

In regards to the MDGs, a set of well-defined and measurable targets for states to achieve by the year 2015 adopted by world leaders at the Millennium Summit in New York in September 2000, Kazakhstan has already achieved a number of tasks. In addition, the government has adopted an MDG Plus agenda, additional, more ambitious goals adapted for Kazakhstan and based on the analysis of the national priorities, national statistics, related national programmes, as well as on the experience of other countries.

The first MDGs Report for Kazakhstan was published in 2002, which was the first report of this type in the Eastern Europe and CIS region. In October of last year, during the presentation of the 2010 MDG Report in Astana, Deputy Foreign Minister of Kazakhstan Kairat Umarov said: "This is the 4^th MDG Report for Kazakhstan and one can see a remarkable progress towards achieving the MDGs thanks to the fruitful cooperation and partnership with the UN agencies in our country. We attach great significance to our collaboration with the UN because it a unique organisation which is able to mobilise international community to solve global as well as local issues."

Furthermore, Kazakhstan is currently carrying out necessary preparations to become elected as one of the ten non-permanent members of the UN Security Council in 2016.

"For Kazakhstan, the United Nations is the guarantor and embodiment of its sovereignty. The great respect for this unique and universal organisation among the people of our country is corroborated by our active and fruitful cooperation with it," Arystanbekova recapped.

At present, the UN system in Kazakhstan is represented by the UNDP (United Nations Development Programme), UNICEF (United Nations Children's Fund), UNFPA (United Nations Population Fund), UNODC (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime), UNHCR (Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees), UNV (United Nations Volunteers), UNIFEM (United Nations Development Fund for Women), ILO (International Labour Organisation), UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation), WHO (World Health Organisation), UNIDO (United Nations Industrial Development Organisation), World Bank, IMF (International Monetary Fund), UNAIDS (Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS), Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and DPI (Department of Public Information).