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MalaysianDigest (05 January 2018)

Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbaev will address a high-level thematic meeting on Jan 18 at the United Nations Security Council, focusing on non-proliferation and confidence-building measures.

Since non-proliferation is closely linked with confidence-building measures (CBMs), Nazarbayev will emphasise the strengthening of CBMs.

Indeed, as a country which has voluntarily renounced its own nuclear assets and closed down its former nuclear site, Kazakhstan attaches “great importance” to non-proliferation and building trust among member states.

The Kazakh permanent representative to the UN, Ambassador Kairat Umarov, confirmed to Bernama that President Nazarbayev was scheduled to address the high-level Council meeting which will also be attended by heads of state and ministers.

“Our President’s address will focus on non-proliferation which will be one of the three areas we will concentrate on during our month-long Presidency of the UN Security Council in January,” Umarov said.

The three priority areas for Kazakhstan during its UNSC Presidency in January will be non-proliferation and CBMs, Afghanistan and Central Asia, and the Middle East.

Kazakhstan, which is one of the 15 members of the UNSC, is the first Central Asian country to be elected to the UNSC and to preside over it.

Another major ministerial-level debate on building relationships between Afghanistan and Central Asia will be chaired on Jan 19 by Kazakhstan’s Foreign Minister Kairat Abdrakhmanov; UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will also attend this meeting.

Finally, on Jan 25, the UNSC will also discuss the situation in the Middle East, including the question of Palestine.

Asked whether the Council would put any pressure on Syria regarding humanitarian aid and chemical weapons now that the Joint Investigative Mechanism (JIM) of the United Nations and the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons was “dead”, Umarov responded that the question of chemical weapons was going to be examined by the UNSC on Jan 9.

Umarov did not rule out that the Rohingya humanitarian crisis in Myanmar could also be raised at the UNSC, given the extensive media attention and the international outcry on the issue.

http://www.malaysiandigest.com/world/716374-kazakhstan-president-to-address-high-level-unsc-meeting-on-non-proliferation.html