New York, April 25, 2023 – As part of his visit to New York, the First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan, Kairat Umarov, spoke at the open debate of the UN Security Council on the situation in the Middle East. He also held a number of meetings with the leadership of the World Organization, TurkicWorld reports with the reference to Kazakstan MFA.

In his speech at the meeting of the UN Security Council, Umarov called on Israel and Palestine to refrain from any actions that could undermine the progress of peace based on the formula of two states for two peoples. Given the membership of Israel and Palestine in the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA), he urged both sides to use the potential of CICA to bring their positions closer.

At a meeting with the UN Secretary-General António Guterres, the latter noted “the leading role of our country in the region” and praised “the implementation of large-scale political and social reforms of the country’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev against the backdrop of an extremely difficult international situation.” The interlocutors exchanged views on a wide range of topical international issues and discussed prospects for further strengthening cooperation between Kazakhstan and the UN. They also discussed the implementation of the initiative to create the UN Regional Center for Sustainable Development Goals for Central Asia and Afghanistan in Almaty.

During the meeting with the UN Under-Secretary-General for Legal Affairs, Miguel de Serpa Soares, the legal aspects of establishing the UN Center for Sustainable Development Goals in Almaty were discussed, as well as issues related to the ratification of specific UN conventions.

The UN Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, Jean-Pierre Lacroix, expressed gratitude for the support of the UN program to expand the participation of women in peacekeeping missions. He also noted the efforts of Kazakhstan in the field of training military personnel from different countries at the KAZCENT Peacekeeping Training Center of the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Kazakhstan. The Kazakh diplomat stated the intention of Kazakhstan to continue active participation in UN peacekeeping missions and contribute to international security.

Overall, the visit was productive and enabled to compare notes with the UN leadership on matters of mutual interest.