ASTANA, 4 January 2017 – Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Yerzhan Ashikbayev discussed the program of Kazakhstan's activity as the chairman of the UN Security Council during the press conference at the Central Communications Service.

Ashikbayev noted that during the presidency in the UN Security Council, the Kazakh delegation will continue to implement the seven priorities set by President Nursultan Nazarbayev in his political address to the UN Security Council titled “Kazakhstan's conceptual vision of strengthening global partnership for building a safe, just and prosperous world.”

On the first working day, the members of the UN Security Council considered and adopted the Council's Work Program for January, expressed their full support and underlined its eventfulness, content, relevance and balance. The Deputy Minister emphasized that Kazakhstan established the ceremony of raising the flags of new non-permanent members of the Security Council as the practice for the UN Security Council.

During the press conference, Ashikbayev drew attention to the forthcoming high-level thematic briefing on the theme “Non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction: confidence-building measures” chaired by President Nursultan Nazarbayev to be held on January 18. It is expected that UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, as well as high-level representatives of the UN Security Council member countries will speak at the event. “The theme of the briefing clearly correlates with the traditional priorities of the Kazakh diplomacy and with the foreign policy initiatives of the Head of State,” the deputy minister said.

Another important event during the presidency in the UN Security Council will be the ministerial debate titled “Building a regional partnership in Afghanistan and Central Asia as a model for the interdependence of security and development” with the participation of Foreign Minister Kairat Abdrakhmanov.

As for the situation in Afghanistan, Ashikbayev mentioned three main aspects in the solution of the Afghanistan problem, which could serve as a further model for application in other conflict areas: the close relationship between security and development, regional approach to solving various problems and a comprehensive development strategy between the UN structures. He also noted that the solution of the Afghanistan problem is of particular importance for ensuring long-term stability and security for the countries of the region.

In January, on a traditional basis, the Council will hold open and closed discussions of the situations in Syria, Libya, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Central African Republic, Darfur, West Africa and the Sahel, South Sudan, Mali, Somalia, Cyprus and Colombia under the chairmanship of Kazakhstan. On January 25 there will be quarterly open debates of the UN Security Council at the level of the permanent representatives of the UN member states on the theme “The situation in the Middle East, including the question of Palestine.” It is scheduled to adopt a number of resolutions and presidential statements.

The Deputy Minister also spoke about the results of the first year of Kazakhstan's membership in the UN Security Council. The Kazakh delegation contributed to the adoption of 61 resolutions, including 11 co-authorships and 27 statements by the chairman of the Security Council. There were voiced the issues that are in priority for Kazakhstan, including preventive diplomacy and the strengthening of confidence-building measures, non-proliferation, conflict resolution, countering international terrorism, and others. Thus, Kazakhstan acts in the common interests of the whole world as a fair mediator.