CENTRAL ASIAN COUNTRIES DISCUSS SECURITY COOPERATION

NUR-SULTAN

11/06/2020

On 11 June 2020, H.E. Mr. Yerzhan Ashikbayev, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan, took part in an online meeting of Deputy Foreign Ministers of Central Asian states and Afghanistan, convened by the United Nations Regional Centre for Preventive Diplomacy for Central Asia (UNRCCA). The meeting served as a platform for the countries in the region to share their analysis and vision regarding regional security and cooperation challenges in the context of COVID-19 and ways to address them.

The Deputy Foreign Ministers of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, as well as Afghanistan, as part of the C5+1+UN format, took part in the meeting.

H.E. Ambassador Peter Burian, EU Special Representative for Central Asia and H.E. Ambassador Tuula Yrjölä, Director of the OSCE Conflict Prevention Centre, Deputy Head of the OSCE Secretariat were invited as guest speakers. H.E. Ambassador Miroslav Jenča, UN Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs, also contrubuted to the discussion.

The online event was chaired by H.E. Ambassador Natalia Gherman, Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General, Head of the UNRCCA, who in her opening statement underlined that “the COVID-19 pandemic has made it clear that we are now confronting shared threats more than ever before. The United Nations is striving to support each country and each region in its battle against the pandemic in any way possible” and “regional cooperation on emergency preparedness can save lives and help ensure regional peace and security.”

H.E. Mr. Yerzhan Ashikbaev presented the vision of the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan for the post-crisis period, as well as acquainted the participants with the efforts that the country is taking to combat COVID-19 and its consequences at the national, regional and international levels. He also noted that Kazakhstan renders all possible assistance to its partners in Central Asia and supports the main international initiatives of the UN. The Deputy Minister called on Central Asian partners to support initiatives of Kazakhstan aimed at strengthening regional security cooperation, as well as implementation of sustainable development goals in Central Asia and Afghanistan.

Representatives of the UN, EU and OSCE positively noted the interaction of the states of Central Asia and Afghanistan in addressing the negative consequences of the coronavirus pandemic.

High-ranked diplomats of Central Asian states and Afghanistan expressed their support for the efforts of UNRCCA, the EU and the OSCE to promote cooperation and strengthen peace and security in the region.

Participants underlined increased cooperation and trust in the region during the current crisis. As examples, they mentioned continuous supply of strategically important goods, such as medicine and food, uninterrupted deliveries of electricity and oil products, as well as humanitarian assistance within the region and beyond. Existing crisis response mechanisms have helped. However, the current situation has shown that they need to be further enhanced and there is also a necessity to develop new ones to address increased complexities. Participants decided to further develop agreed proposals with the assistance of UNRCCA.

REFERENCE. The establishment of the UNRCCA were initiated by H.E. Mr. Nursultan Nazarbayev, the First President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Leader of the Nation (Elbasy) in December 2007.

There are only three such UN regional centres in the world: one in Central Asia (UNRCCA) and two in Africa (UNOCA and UNOWAS). The Centre provides support to regional efforts in the field of conflict prevention and adressing modern challenges and threats (terrorism, drug trafficking, water and energy issues, etc.).

The Regional Centre is an example of political engagement and preventive efforts by the United Nations in support of Member States. It is mandated to liaise with the Governments of the region on issues relevant to preventive diplomacy; to provide monitoring and analysis; to maintain contact with regional organizations and facilitate coordination and information exchange. In addition, the Centre is to provide an overall framework and leadership for the preventive activities of the UN country teams and to maintain close contact with the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan to ensure a comprehensive and integrated analysis of the situation in the region.