The Permanent Representative of Kazakhstan to the EU in Belgium, Margulan Baimukhan, met with the Chief of the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, Natalia Alonso Cano, and the Deputy Chief, Sebastien Penzini, to exchange views on strengthening cooperation between Kazakhstan and the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction in the bilateral and Central Asian dimension, El.kz cites MFA.
The Kazakh diplomat encouraged foreign colleagues to cooperate more closely in such areas as early warning of natural disasters, full coverage of disaster risks, as well as increasing awareness among citizens.
In turn, Natalia Kano noted that disaster risk reduction in Central Asia affects many sectors, including transport, water resources, agriculture, climate change and energy. For this reason, UNDP programmes are helping to strengthen disaster risk reduction and climate resilience in Central Asia.
To promote climate resilience in Central Asia, the UN Office is actively supporting the Astana akimat through its participation in the global initiative “Making Cities Resilient by 2030”. In 2023, representatives of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of the Republic of Kazakhstan also participated in discussions on “Disability Inclusion” related to urban resilience.
Separately, Natalia Kano suggested that in the perspective of the future Kazakhstan should consider the possibility of participating in donor missions of the UN Office on the African continent to demonstrate the wide range of the UN Office’s work - from regional co-operation to initiatives at the local level.
The Permanent Representative also spoke about the large-scale political, economic and social reforms being carried out by the Government of Kazakhstan on the initiative of President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.