During his visit to Kazakhstan, UN Secretary-General António Guterres visited the UN Plaza - the UN building in Almaty, where he met with the UN Resident Coordinator in Kazakhstan, Michaela Friberg-Storey, as well as with the heads of UN agencies accredited in Kazakhstan, press service of the Kazakh MFA reports.
The Kazakh side was represented at the meeting by the First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Akan Rakhmetullin, and the Permanent Representative of Kazakhstan to the UN in New York, Kairat Umarov.
In his speech, António Guterres highly appreciated Kazakhstan’s efforts in promoting issues related to strengthening peace and security, achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and ensuring human rights, and spoke positively about the initiatives put forward by Kazakhstan at international platforms.
Akan Rakhmetullin emphasized the exceptional role of the UN in solving the most pressing problems of our time, noting the high level of interaction in all areas between our country and the global Organization throughout the entire period of cooperation.
During the meeting, special attention was also paid to the importance of Kazakhstan’s initiative to establish in Almaty the UN Regional Centre for Sustainable Development for Central Asia and Afghanistan, aimed at ensuring peace and security in the region.
In addition, given the particular relevance of the issues of melting glaciers due to climate change in Central Asia, António Guterres was presented with information on the activities of the UNESCO Central Asian Regional Glaciological Centre.
Meanwhile, representatives of UN agencies based in the UN Plaza building informed about the current activities of the Organization’s structures with a regional mandate, their priorities and interaction with the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan in order to ensure sustainable development at both the country and regional levels.
At the end of the event, the meeting participants got acquainted with the exhibition "UN and Me" deployed in the UN Plaza building.
On July 4, UN Secretary-General Guterres will take part in the work of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Summit in Astana.
The official inauguration of the UN Plaza building took place in May 2019 with the participation of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev. Today, the UN building in Almaty houses 18 agencies with a staff of more than 120 people.
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