Main Outcomes of Kazakhstan’s UNSC Presidency

MAIN OUTCOMES OF KAZAKHSTAN’S UNSC PRESIDENCY January 31, 2018, marked the end of Kazakhstan’s month-long presidency at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). Kazakhstan’s presidency in the world’s most important political body for the month of January was a culmination of its non-permanent UNSC membership and a significant milestone in its strategy of building a positive momentum for global peace and security, as well as its international reputation. At present, Kazakhstan is known as a country that is at the forefront of the nonproliferation debate and hailed as an “honest broker” involved in efforts to resolve some of the most pressing challenges facing the world from Iran’s nuclear program to the civil war in Syria. However, the significance of the presidency is not limited to symbolism as it has also been a tool for Kazakhstan to promote national and regional priorities using its mandate for calling meetings and setting the agenda of the powerful council, whose decisions are mandatory for all the U.N. member states. Accordingly, Kazakhstan being the first ever country in Central Asia to assume this position prioritized the situation in and around Afghanistan that is of great concern to regional security, and issues related to nonproliferation. Overall, during the course of the month, Kazakhstan held over 40 events in the form of sessions, meetings, and consultations, which resulted in four UNSC resolutions, two presidential statements, and 12 press statements.

The first event of Kazakhstan’s presidency was held on January 2, 2018, in which Kairat Umarov, the Permanent Representative of Kazakhstan, outlined the UNSC work program for January. This program was based on President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev’s policy address to the UNSC called “Kazakhstan’s Conceptual Vision of Strengthening Global Partnership for a Secure, Just and Prosperous World”. This document points out the following seven priority areas: moving towards a world free of nuclear weapons; creating conditions to prevent the threat of a global war and settle local conflicts; promoting peace, security and development in Central Asia, including Afghanistan; facilitating the formation of a global antiterrorist coalition (network) under the UN auspices; assisting the peaceful development of Africa; contributing to the UN sustainable development goals; and adapting the UN system to the needs and realities of the 21st century. Within the framework of this monthly program, a number of important events took place. The highlight of Kazakhstan’s presidency was a high-level thematic briefing titled “Nonproliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD): Confidence-Building Measures” held on January 18, 2018, and chaired by President Nazarbayev. In fact, pursuing nonproliferation is a cornerstone of Kazakhstan’s foreign policy as activities aimed at achieving a world free of WMD are emphasized in the Foreign Policy Concept of Kazakhstan and the Kazakhstan-2050 Strategy. Therefore, the country has once again drawn attention of the world community to this issue in order to boost efforts for getting rid of nuclear weapons by the UN’s 100 anniversary in 2045, the goal proclaimed by President Nazarbayev during the 70th session of the UN General Assembly in September 2015. Therefore, the aim of the above mentioned briefing was to find ways of building confidence and trust around the globe so that states no longer feel the need to develop and possess WMD to ensure their security. On the same day, Kazakhstan also held a special high-level event related to the presentation of the draft Code of Conduct for the Achievement of a Terrorism-Free World. This document puts an emphasis on social development to fight poverty and hunger, the factors leading to radicalization. In this regard, Kazakhstan proposed to establish a special UN Fund for sustainable development, which would be funded by the UN member states through transferring 1% of their annual defense budgets.

Recognizing its responsibility as the first Central Asian country to be elected to the UNSC and the fact that it chairs the UNSC Committee on Afghanistan, Kazakhstan has also put an increased focus on the Afghan problem. According to the UN, 2017 is acknowledged as the most violent year in Afghanistan with more than 18,000 civilians killed or wounded. This is the highest figure since the beginning of the U.S.-led Operation Enduring Freedom in 2001. Afghanistan’s continuing downturn in security has a direct negative impact on the stability, security and economic development of Central Asia. Considering this fact, on January 19, 2018, Kazakhstan held a ministerial debate entitled “Building Regional Partnerships in Afghanistan and Central Asia as a Model for the Security-Development Nexus” to express relevant concerns of the regional states and discuss possible solutions. Following the event attended by the foreign ministers of the Central Asian states, Afghanistan and the UNSC members, the Statement by the UNSC President (S/PRST/2018/2) was adopted. The document draws attention to the following three main aspects in addressing the instability in Afghanistan: the close relationship between security and development; the regional approach to solving various problems; and a comprehensive development strategy coordinated among the UN structures. It is worth mentioning that ahead of this debate Kazakhstan organized, for the first time in almost seven years, a three-day visit of the UNSC delegation to Afghanistan in order to “get the update of the situation on the ground”. As noted by UN Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs Miroslav Jenca, “although the council has been previously working on Afghanistan, Kazakhstan’s emphasis on tying the situation in Afghanistan to Central Asia opens up a new sight to the issue”.

Apart from the UNSC work program for January prepared by Kazakhstan, the work of the council also included regular sessions, such as the quarterly open debate held on January 25, 2018, to discuss the situation in the Middle East with the focus on the IsraeliPalestinian conflict, as well as unplanned meetings that were convened in response to emergency situations in the world, such as the discussions on the protests in Iran and the situation on the Korean Peninsula held on January 5 and January 10, respectively. The month-long presidency of Kazakhstan was concluded by the visit of the UNSC delegation to Washington, where the representatives of the 15 council members had a meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump and visited the Holocaust Memorial Museum and the Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling. Overall, Kazakhstan being at the forefront of multilateral diplomacy and setting the agenda of the most influential global body has gained a notable recognition and status for itself, while also managing to attract attention to its priority issues from some of the world’s major powers. Therefore, its presidency at the UNSC has allowed Astana to further strengthen its international standing of the responsible partner in the issues of regional and international security. Written by Abulkhairkhan Zhunisbek, Eurasian Research Institute, Kazakhstan .

Politics, Foreign Affairs and Security Economy, Finance and Energy        During their official visit to Baku, the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk, and co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group Andrew Schofer (USA), Stefan Visconti (France) and Igor Popov (Russia) met with President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev to discuss the current state and prospects of the negotiations on the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. During his official visit to Tehran, Foreign Minister of Turkey Mevlut Cavusoglu met with President of Iran Hassan Rouhani to discuss Turkey-Iran relations as well as regional issues, focusing on the military operation in Syria. During his official visit to Bishkek, Foreign Trade Minister of Uzbekistan Jamshid Khodjaev met with Economy Minister of Kyrgyzstan Artem Novikov to discuss the ways to strengthen bilateral trade and economic cooperation. The parties also discussed possibilities of signing a memorandum of cooperation between the governments of the two countries on the promotion of equipment, products, goods, and services produced in Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan in foreign markets.

During his official visit to Baku, Defense Minister of Saudi Arabia MajorGeneral Ali bin Ibrahim Al-Fawaz met with high-ranking officials of the Defense Ministry of Azerbaijan to discuss the ways to develop military cooperation, including further strengthening of friendly ties between the armies of the two countries. The parties also exchanged views on regional security issues. During his official visit to Beijing, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Uzbekistan Abdulaziz Kamilov met with Minister of Foreign Affairs of China Wang Yi to discuss the key issues of bilateral relations. The parties exchanged in-depth views focusing on the Afghan issue and the preparation work for the Shanghai Cooperation Organization’s Qingdao Summit.

During their visit to Kabul, the army chiefs of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan met with President of Afghanistan Ashraf Ghani to discuss prospects of boosting security and economic cooperation in the region. Moreover, the parties stressed the need for international partnership to effectively fight against terrorism and ensure sustainable peace in Afghanistan.

     President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev signed a decree approving the Employment Promotion Program for 2018. According to the document, it is planned to create over 346,790 permanent jobs in the country. In particular, more than 168,220 jobs will be created by launching new industrial capacities, while about 101,310 jobs will be created through the development of small and medium businesses.

According to Head of the Federal Customs Service of Russia Vladimir Bulavin, in 2017 the service transferred 4.575 trillion rubles ($80 billion) to the country’s federal budget, thus exceeding the established plan by 3%. It was noted that the target for 2018 is to transfer 4.813 trillion rubles ($84.18 billion). According to the Committee of Statistics of the Ministry of National Economy of Kazakhstan, the country reduced imports of gasoline by 3.9%, while increasing imports of diesel fuel by 5.9% in 2017. Last year, the Kazakhstani refineries processed 14.9 million tons of oil, which is an increase of 2.8% compared to 2016, with a plan of 14.5 million tons. Since January 1, 2018, all three refineries of Kazakhstan have switched to the production of diesel fuel of ecological classes K4 and K5 (analogues of Euro-4, Euro-5). According to the State Fiscal Service of Ukraine, in January 2018 Azerbaijan exported oil worth $36.174 million to the country. It is also noted that Azerbaijan accounts for 93.9% of oil supplies to Ukraine, followed by Iran (4.8%) with exported oil worth $1.844 million. Russia’s share in oil exports to Ukraine is only 0.7% with exported oil worth $0.277 million. In total, in January 2018, Ukraine imported crude oil and gas condensate worth $38.515 million, which is 57.3% more than in the same period last year.

According to the State Statistics Committee of Uzbekistan, in January 2018 the prices of goods and services in the consumer market of Uzbekistan rose by an average of 2.7%. During the reporting period, the prices of food, non-food products, and services rose by 3.5%, 2.3%, and 1.4%, respectively.

According to Azerbaijan’s state oil company SOCAR, in January 2018 the country’s oil exports through the BakuTbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline fell by 33% to 1.6 million tons compared to 2.4 million tons in January 2017. Meanwhile, 550,000 tons of transit oil were  pumped from Turkmenistan via the BTC in January 2018. In 2017, 33.76 million tons of oil were transported via the BTC pipeline compared to 33.93 million tons in 2016.

The European Investment Bank approved a 1.5 billion euro loan for the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) intended to bring new gas supplies to Europe.

The TAP, the end piece of the $40 billion Southern Gas Corridor, is slated to transport up to 10 billion cubic meters of gas from the giant Azeri Shah Deniz field to Italy by 2020, crossing Georgia, Turkey, Greece, Albania, and the Adriatic Sea.

Society and Culture      Prepared by Lidiya Parkhomchik, Dauren Aben, Daniyar Nurbayev According to the Civil Aviation Committee of the Ministry for Investment and Development of Kazakhstan, the country will launch a direct flight from Atyrau to Frankfurt on March 26, 2018. The flights will be operated on an Airbus-321 aircraft two times a week. According to the main state-owned satellite operator of Azerbaijan Azercosmos, its total revenues from the operation of the Azerspace-1 and Azersky satellites reached $91 million. The revenues from the operation of Azerspace1, Azerbaijan’s first satellite, since its launch into orbit in 2013, have amounted to $72 million, while the revenues from the operation of the Azersky satellite have amounted to $19 million since 2014.

According to the Russian-Kyrgyz Development Fund, Kyrgyzstan’s first international data center was opened in Bishkek. The amount of financing at the first stage amounted to $330,000. During the construction of the center, the technologies and equipment of the French company Scheneider Electric were used.

According to the Ministry of Energy of Kazakhstan, an online platform for monitoring, reporting and verifying emission sources and greenhouse gases (GHG) was launched. The platform is an essential element of the National Emissions Trading System of Kazakhstan, which was launched in 2013 as the country’s main instrument to regulate domestic CO2 emissions and drive the development of low-carbon technologies. According to Russian Minister of Emergencies Vladimir Puchkov, the Ministry employees have rescued more than 1.5 million people over the past 5 years when dealing with consequences of emergency situations.