Minister of labor and social protection of population of Kazakhstan, Berdibek Saparbayev, on Wednesday, June 5, met with former UNICEF representative in Kazakhstan Yuri Oksamitniy, and Arthur van Disen, replaced him in this post.

Purpose of the meeting was to discuss the results of cooperation in the field of promotion and protection of children's rights in Kazakhstan, as well as further prospects for cooperation in the implementation of sustainable development goals.

Minister of labor thanked Yuri Oksamitniy for effective cooperation, said a long-term successful history of cooperation of UNICEF with the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan and presented him the breastplate "Aleumettik-enbek salasynyn uzdigi ("Excellent pupil in social and labor sphere").

"As You know, from the first days of Independence of our country, the social policy of the First President - Elbasy is aimed at improving the welfare and quality of life of Kazakhstan. Having extensive experience in the post-soviet countries, You provide significant support in this area. I especially want to note the successful work in teaching our social workers an effective system of work with low-income citizens," B. Saparbayev said.

In turn, Yuri Oksamitniy voiced a number of areas that need further constructive cooperation of the parties. At the same time, he called the work in the social sphere particularly difficult.

"It's a lot of hard work. However, today the impressive results of our joint work in this area are of great interest in other countries of Central Asia," he said.

Welcoming the new representative of Arthur van Disen, the Minister outlined the priorities of cooperation in the sphere of development of social assistance policies, social support for persons with disabilities, social services, immigration processes, etc.

In turn, Arthur van Disen expressed confidence that in the future he will make efforts to strengthen the achieved results and further progress in solving the tasks.

Arthur van Disen was appointed representative of UNICEF in the Republic of Kazakhstan on June 1 this year. Previously, he was a Regional adviser on social policy in the Middle East and North Africa (2015-2019).