Members of the ESCAP Working Group on the Establishment of the Digital Solutions Centre for Sustainable Development Visited Kazakhstan

A meeting between First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan Yerzhan Ashikbayev and representatives of the working group dedicated to the establishment of the Digital Solutions Centre for Sustainable Development of the UN ESCAP (DSC) in Almaty was held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

The main purpose of the working group’s visit to Kazakhstan was to examine the country’s infrastructure capabilities, assess the level of digital technology development, and analyze Kazakhstan’s institutional readiness to establish the Centre.

First Deputy Minister Ashikbayev presented the conceptual foundations of the project and outlined the key areas of activity and strategic objectives of the future Centre.

Attention was given to the financing mechanisms and institutional arrangements of the Centre. Participants shared the results of independent assessments conducted on the institutional structure, financial model, and functional role of the future Centre.

Chair of the Group, Ambassador of Timor-Leste to the Kingdom of Thailand Francisco Tilman Cepeda and Director of the Information and Communications Technology and Disaster Risk Reduction Division of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific Kiyoung Ko noted the high level of digital technology development in Kazakhstan, outlining the country’s significant progress in digital transformation.

The meeting provided an opportunity for a substantive discussion of the digital agenda within the foreign policy of the Republic of Kazakhstan and reaffirmed the country’s readiness at a high level to contribute to the implementation of regional initiatives within the framework of ESCAP.