Graduate School of Public Policy

On September 20, the NU GSPP hosted a seminar with the United Nations Resident Coordinator for Kazakhstan, Michaela Friberg-Storey. The honorable guest presented the UN’s role in supporting Kazakhstan’s development priorities. Namely, she stressed that multilateralism has never been so important as it is today.

The UN Resident Coordinator expounded the main pillars of the UN Chapter: peace and security, human rights, and development. She pointed out that the three pillars are essential and cannot be divided or received separately. Ms. Friberg-Storey also highlighted Kazakhstan’s contribution to achieving these pillars through eliminating nuclear weapons; organizing Syrian talks; launching KazAID; and being an active participant in international affairs and agenda-setting through Chairmanship in the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in 2011 as a non-permanent membership of the UN Security Council for 2017-2018.

As Ms. Friberg-Storey noted, the UN has 27 agencies all of which have offices in Kazakhstan. She stressed that the relationship between the UN and Kazakhstan has transformed into a true partnership that ensures different types of engagement. Namely, Kazakhstan demonstrated good collaboration last summer when the state accepted the international organizations’ offices that moved from Afghanistan.

Beyond that, the NU GSPP guest highlighted the seventeen sustainable development goals (SDGs) that structured the Agenda 21st. Sustainable development— she stressed— is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. According to Ms. Friberg-Storey, five SDGs are prioritized in Kazakhstan: poverty, education, water, economic growth, and healthcare.

The meeting with the UN Resident Coordinator for Kazakhstan was held on the eve of the UN General Assembly in New York.