PRESIDENT NAZARBAYEV ADDRESSES THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY

Astana, September  23: President Nursultan Nazarbayev visited New York on September 20 through 22 to take part in the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) debates, a unique forum for the international community to address global issues.

In his speech to the UNGA’s general debates, Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbayev summarised some of the major achievements his country had made over the past twenty years of its independence. Among others are the historic closure of the Semipalatinsk nuclear test site and convening of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building in Asia, a multilateral security dialogue of 22 countries representing world’s half population. Last year, Kazakhstan became the first post-Soviet country to assume the chairmanship of the OSCE. Its yearlong stint culminated in a historic summit, first since 1999.

This year the country chairs the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation. Kazakhstan furthers all efforts to strengthen international and regional security, promote dialogue between Islamic world and the West, counter Islamophobia and enhance nonproliferation regime, Nazarbayev said in his address.

The Kazakh leader called upon the world leaders to draft a Universal Declaration of Nuclear-Free World. He called the situation when some countries are allowed to have and perfect nuclear weapon while others are prohibited even to develop one paradoxical. He urged the de-facto nuclear states to refrain from their ambitions and join comprehensive treaties.

Speaking of the global recession, Nazarbayev stressed the need to change the paradigm the United Nations works in the economic sphere. Forecast and elimination of reasons of world crises should be the major work of international financial institutions, Nazarbayev added. An effective mechanism of global economic management with clear-cut rules and norms of responsibilities of all parties, the introduction of a world reserve currency, and strict control of speculative capital are needed.

A global pact on information and cybersecurity is vital to deter the increasingly frequent attacks by hackers against governments, businesses and other institutions, the leader of Kazakhstan told the General Assembly. Nazarbayev stressed the need for what he called an international legal framework of the global information space.

Nazarbayev said the emergence of a new world order is accompanied by the growth of conflicts. He told the general debate that it was worrying that world’s total arms expenditures are growing twice faster than during the Cold War, or 6 per cent per annum. He repeated the urgency to set up a UN Fund of Peacekeeping Efforts, a proposal he put forward 19 years ago. To this end, every country would contribute 1 per cent of its military budget.

He called upon UN’s closer cooperation with regional organisations such as CICA, SCO and CSTO in the Eurasian region.

The Kazakh President confirmed his country’s support to create a Palestinian State for without an independent Palestine, peace in the Middle East is impossible.

He underlined that only trust and unity could be the foundation of a new and fair world order.

On the sidelines of UNGA the Kazakh leader held a number of bilateral meetings with presidents of Austria, Cyprus, European Council, Finland, Georgia, Latvia, Poland, Republic of Korea, Slovenia, Ukraine, and USA, prime ministers of Turkey and UK, and United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

The following day, President Nazarbayev delivered a keynote speech at the High-Level Meeting on Nuclear Safety and Security on the margins of the UN General Assembly’s sixty-sixth session. The meeting focused on strengthening the global nuclear safety regime and ensuring maximum nuclear safety standards.

In his speech, President described nuclear security as triune whole, consisting of protecting humankind from nuclear weapons, countering potential nuclear terrorism, and ensuring safety of atomic energy. He called for improvement of planetary management mechanisms in nuclear energy development. According to Nazarbayev, “unified, strict and internationally recognised standards and criteria to ensure safety of nuclear energy sites are needed’. He also underlined the importance that the world community be immediately informed of any minor incidents at any nuclear sites. And while the global radiophobia is growing it is of paramount importance to strengthen public trust of nuclear energy on the basis of true and realistic information, he added.

He also took the opportunity to extend his appreciation of the UNGA’s support to declare August 29, the day of closing the Semipalatinsk test site, the International Day of Actions against Nuclear Tests.

The leader of Kazakhstan also reaffirmed his country’s readiness to host the IAEA’s Low Enriched Uranium bank.

On the sidelines of the UNGA sixty-sixth session, Kazakh Foreign Minister Yerzhan Kazykhanov took part in the work of the Ministerial Meeting “The New Silk Way”. As the current chair of the OIC CFM, he also participated in an Organization of Islamic Cooperation – European Union meeting, as well as the Ministerial Troika meeting of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. and held talks with its Chairman-in-Office Audronius Azubalis. He met separately with First-Vice-President of the European Commission and EU High Representative for Foreign and Security Affairs Catherine Ashton, Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi and UNDP Administrator Helen Clark.