Kazakh Foreign Minister Speaks at a UN Meeting on South-South Cooperation

NUR-SULTAN, September 26, 2020 - Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan Mukhtar Tileuberdi took part in the UN High-Level video conference on Poverty Eradication and South-South Cooperation within the 75th session of the UN General Assembly. The event included foreign ministers of the UN member states and the UN Deputy Secretary Generals.

During the conference, the participants noted that one of the negative consequences of the pandemic is a significant increase in the number of people living below the poverty line. This could reverse the progress made in recent years among countries of the South towards achieving the goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

In this regard, Minister Tileuberdi drew attention to the innovative proposals announced in May 2020 at the UN Forum on Financing for Development by President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev on forgiving debt and debt relief in exchange for increasing investments in healthcare and implementing regional development projects.

Kazakhstan fully supports global efforts on developing the South-South Cooperation. Over the past 20 years, our country has allocated more than $500 million within official development assistance and humanitarian assistance primarily aimed at strengthening the economic capacity of Central Asia and Afghanistan. To implement this, establishment of a special national agency KazAID is underway.

South-South Cooperation involves the exchange of knowledge, skills, experience and resources to achieve development goals among developing countries, the so-called countries of the South. South-South Cooperation is implemented in the political, economic, social, cultural and technical fields on a bilateral, regional and interregional basis.