nCa Commentary
Kazakhstan became the non-permanent member of the UN Security Council on 1 January 2017. It is the first country in Central Asia to be elected to the UNSC.
On 10 January 2017, the foreign minister of Kazakhstan, Kairat Abdrakhmanov presented the policy address of President Nursultan Nazarbayev “Kazakhstan’s Concept Vision on Sustainable Global Partnership for Secure, Just and Prosperous World” at the Open Debate at the UNSC on Conflict Prevention and Sustaining Peace.
Since this is the first time a country from Central Asia has reached the powerful platform, it is important to look at the main aspects of Kazakhstan’s vision as its peacekeeping mission at the UNSC.
Speaking in the presence of UN Secretary General, António Guterres, and the foreign ministers and deputy foreign ministers of Ethiopia, France, Great Britain, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Poland, the Netherlands, Sweden and Ukraine, permanent representatives of China, Russia, the United States to the United Nations and other UN Member States, the Kazakh FM outlined the goals as defined by the president of Kazakhstan.
The goals, based on the Manifesto of the Head of State ‘The World – The 21st Century,’ are clustered around the main objective: Ridding the world of nuclear weapons by the 100th anniversary of the United Nations.
Closely associated with this objective are the goals of eliminating the threat of wars and conflicts while ensuring the strong connecting between peace, security and development.
Strongly related is the need to prevent the nuclear weapons from falling in the hands of terrorist organizations. There is the need for universal nuclear security as the world gradually builds consensus toward the elimination of the nuclear weapons.
As noted in the address, “Kazakhstan will work in a balanced and unbiased manner on the Council’s entire agenda keeping in mind the paramount importance of maintaining and strengthening peace and security.”
According to President Nazarbayev, Astana intends “to work on an equal basis with all Security Council Members to promote compromise and consensus to strengthen international peace and security.”
The whole range of priorities of Kazakhstan includes: Building a nuclear-weapons-free world, eliminating the threat of a global war, promoting peace in Afghanistan, creating a regional peace zone in Central Asia, Global Antiterrorist Coalition under the auspices of the United Nations, fostering peace in Africa, promoting the UN Sustainable Goals, and highlighting and facilitating the strong connection and logical correlation between peace, security and development.
With this approach, it is possible to address the foremost challenges of today – terrorism and extremism, migration, economy, ecology, and medicine.
Kazakhstan has always been a strong proponent of non-military solution to conflict situations. The recent example is the violent conflict in Syria where Kazakhstan has offered its political space for peace talks.
All of the goals of Kazakhstan need the unanimity of the community of nations for their fulfillment.
The address of President Nazarbayev to the UNSC says, “Kazakhstan is determined to work with all Member States of the Council on these priorities, without political expediency, in an open, objective, balanced responsible and constructive way.”
This is the first time that Central Asia has its own voice at the UN Security Council – it is a powerful and compelling voice. It is the voice of reason and logic, and it resonates with the aspirations of the people all over the world.
Hopefully, the world would unite for the sake of the entire mankind. “Kazakhstan counts on support from partners for its initiatives which have the important goal of making the world in the 21st century safer, fairer and more prosperous,” the statement says. /// nCa