Kazakhstan intensifies relations with key Vienna-based international organizations

At a meeting with Deputy UN Secretary-General, Director-General of the UN Office at Vienna, Executive Director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime Yuri Fedotov, the two sides dealt with the wider drug, crime, corruption, money-laundering, human trafficking, extremism and terrorism-related issues, as well as the Office for de-radicalization among detainees in Kazakh prisons project’s implementation.

According to Mr Yuri Fedotov, Kazakhstan is the key partner of the UNODC in the region, leading to the Office’s full support for Kazakhstan’s foreign policy initiatives to maintain the regional security, as well as the efforts of the Central Asian Information Coordination Center to combat drug trafficking in the city of Almaty, which is a unique model of engagement between the region’s countries to counter the proliferation of drugs from Afghanistan along the northern route.

The concrete steps towards primarily increasing the potential of national laboratories to do scientific and forensic studies on drug abuse and their precursors, strengthening the skills of relevant experts to eliminate the use of false ID documents by criminals came under discussion.

Mr Yuri Fedotov was bestowed with the Kazakh Foreign Ministry’s highest ministerial award named after Nazir Torekulov for Contribution to the foreign policy and the strengthening of the bilateral relations.

At a meeting in the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Director-General Yukiya Amano marked the effective cooperation in the nuclear field, including the opening of the one-of-a-kind IAEA LEU Bank located in Kazakhstan.

He commended the role and contribution of First Kazakh President – Leader of the Nation Nursultan Nazarbayev in the global disarmament and non-proliferation.

Practical issues of cooperation between Kazakhstan and the IAEA for peaceful uses of nuclear energy in the spheres such as medicine, agriculture, water management, as well as the Agency’s assistance in dealing with the consequences of the former nuclear test site at Semipalatinsk were considered.

Lassina Zerbo, Executive Secretary of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization, pointed to the historic decision of the First Kazakh President on the 29 August 1991 closure of the Semipalatinsk test site led to closing down test sites through the world, paving the way to the 1996 adoption of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty.

"I'm grateful to N. Nazarbayev for the proposal to declare 29 August as the International Day against nuclear tests", he said.

The interlocutors discussed the concrete plans for cooperation to attain the early entry into force of the CTBT.

Kazakh Foreign Minister Beibut Atamkulov also met Li Yong, Director General of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO).

The meeting saw Kazakhstan’s commitment to the strengthening of interaction with UNIDO due to its vast experience and high level of consulting services, as witnessed by the large number of projects worldwide.

The Minister underlined the importance of the standardization of goods manufactured in Kazakhstan for export to countries, in particular to China, which is the country’s largest market, and stressed its interest in contributing to this process.

On his part, Li Yong marked that the holding of EXPO 2017 was a shining example of Kazakhstan’s contribution to sustainable development and promotion of green technologies.

The parties noted the global importance of the Chinese “Belt and Road” initiative, Kazakhstan’s efforts in the interconnectedness of Asian and European infrastructures by presenting transport and logistics corridors between them. The issue of establishing a UNIDO Investment and Technology Promotion Office (ITPO) in the city of Nur-Sultan to assist in direct foreign investments and foreign technologies activities was considered.

The head of UNIDO emphasized the technological aspects of development, enhancement of efficiency and quality of manufacture, the importance of standardization and digitalization of member States’ industrial development. In this connection, the Organization’s interest in providing forensic support to Kazakhstan’s economic modernization and industrial development initiated by first Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev was expressed.