BRUSSELS, November 12, 2019 – The Berlaymont, the central headquarters of the European Commission, hosted an official ceremony of the European Union's joint educational program for training Afghan women in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.

The event was attended by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Uzbekistan Abdulaziz Kamilov, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan Roman Vassilenko, Ambassador of Afghanistan to the EU Nazifullah Salarzai, the leadership of the European External Action Service, the EU Directorate-General for International Cooperation and Development, as well as high representatives of UNDP and UN Women. 

In his statement, Deputy Minister Vassilenko reaffirmed that promoting stability in Afghanistan and establishing a regional peace zone in Central Asia was one of the most important priorities of Kazakhstan’s foreign policy. 

The trilateral educational program between the EU, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan should help to achieve this goal by supporting the empowerment of Afghan women. 

This initiative enables the training of 40 Afghan female students in higher educational institutions of Kazakhstan until 2025. The training will cover agriculture, applied statistics and mining. Ten more girls will study agriculture in Uzbekistan. 

Deputy Minister Vassilenko thanked the EU for supporting Kazakhstan's proposal to launch this program, in particular, for allocating 2 million euros to fund it. Moreover, he expressed gratitude to UNDP and UN Women for the practical implementation of the program.

According to him, “the program is an excellent example of how Central Asian countries can, in  light of a new vision of cooperation and understanding, jointly propose and implement effective solutions for the benefit of the overall development of the region.” Moreover, this initiative demonstrates the willingness of Brussels and the Central Asian capitals to offer effective solutions for the practical implementation of the new EU Strategy for Central Asia.

The Kazakh diplomat noted that in his statement at the 74th session of the UNGA in New York in September, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev proposed to establish a Regional Centre for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Almaty, which would cover both Central Asia and Afghanistan. It is symbolic that the program for Afghan women covers, in one way or another, six of the seventeen goals – quality education (Goal 4), gender equality (Goal 5), decent work and economic growth (Goal 8), reduced inequality (Goal 10), peace, justice and strong institutions(Goal 16) and partnerships for the Goals (Goal 17).

“Hopefully, in the near future this program proves its worth and success, which will allow us to work on its expansion, as previously planned. And we expect it to serve as a prototype for new mechanisms of cooperation in Eurasia, Central Asia, with the European Union, especially with regard to and in cooperation with Afghanistan,” the Deputy Minister said. 

Significantly, both Foreign Minister Kamilov and Deputy Minister Vassilenko in their statements unanimously called on the international community to see in Afghanistan the source of new opportunities rather than problems. 

At the ceremony, speakers of the European External Action Service, UNDP and other organizations, as well as the Ambassador of Afghanistan to the EU expressed their appreciation and gratitude to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan for initiating and implementing this program. They highlighted Kazakhstan's contribution to the stabilization of Afghanistan within its membership in the UN Security Council in 2017-2018, primarily during its presidency of the Security Council in January 2018.

At the ceremony, UNDP presented a short video featuring Afghan girls participating in the program, as well as inspiring interviews with them about great opportunities that education in Kazakhstan will offer them. 

Source : https://www.gov.kz/memleket/entities/mfa/press/news/details/35681?lang=kk