Kazakhstan, 2008

First of all, I would

like to congratulate the President of the General

Assembly on his election to his high office and to

express my confidence that, under his able

stewardship, the sixty-third session of the General

Assembly will be fruitful and successful.

When Christopher Columbus reached the shores

of America in 1492, he believed that he had discovered

a new route to India. Today we know that, many years

before Columbus made that voyage, European

explorers had reached Saint Lawrence Bay. Obviously,

prior to the so-called discovery of America, developed

civilizations had already existed there. At the same

time, Columbus did discover America in a certain

sense, because it radically altered the understanding of

world geography.

It is globalization that is giving us a new vision

of the world in the twenty-first century. While offering

new opportunities to the world economy and human

development, globalization is also triggering a new

surge of political and economic competition

worldwide.

We can now see clearly that it is imperative to

prevent the interests of peoples and countries from

being sacrificed for the sake of that competition. Given

recent complications and disputes, it is urgent that we

preserve the basic principles of international law,

including that of territorial integrity. It is crucial that

we avoid double standards in the application of that

principle.

Despite the efforts being undertaken, the world is

not becoming a safer place. We must admit that there is

still no international consensus regarding the issues of

disarmament and the non-proliferation of weapons of

mass destruction. As everyone knows, history could

repeat itself if we do not learn its lessons properly.

Therefore, nuclear disarmament and an enhanced

non-proliferation regime should become a priority for

all, without any conditionalities.

Kazakhstan, a country that voluntarily

relinquished the fourth-largest nuclear arsenal in the

world, believes that it is absolutely imperative to

develop new mechanisms for adapting the Treaty on

the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons to new

realities. We call on Member States to finalize the

necessary procedures for the entry into force of the

Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty and the

strengthening of its verification mechanism. That is

precisely the purpose of the integrated on-site

inspection field exercise currently being conducted in

our country at the former Semipalatinsk nuclear testing

ground.

The crisis of the non-proliferation regime poses

the real threat that nuclear weapons will fall into the

hands of terrorists. Kazakhstan is actively participating

in the Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism

and in that regard hosted this year the Atom anti-terror

exercises and an international conference on the

physical protection of nuclear material.

The situation in Afghanistan remains a matter of

grave concern. In our opinion, the way to normalize the

situation is to build up the international community’s

efforts for the peaceful reconstruction of Afghanistan.

To that end, the Government of my county has adopted

a special plan on assistance to Afghanistan.

Kazakhstan is committed to timely and effective

achievement of the Millennium Development Goals

(MDGs). We have already reached a number of targets

in several areas, including poverty reduction, access to

education and the empowerment of women. Now we

are embarking on the MDG-Plus targets, adapted to our

national conditions, in order to set up higher

benchmarks and indicators.

Like many other countries, Kazakhstan is deeply

concerned about the situation regarding the global food

market. We share the view of the majority that an

integrated approach is required to overcome the current

food crisis.

Today the international community faces the

challenge of a global rise in basic food prices.

Kazakhstan, as a major producer and exporter of grain

crops and flour, is prepared to make a substantial

contribution to overcoming the food crisis. As of

1 September 2008, we have lifted our ban on grain

exports. That is our contribution to the international

community’s collective efforts to curb global grain

prices.

Because of the critical importance of energy

resources, preserving the global energy balance has

become a more urgent imperative. Kazakhstan fully

understands its ever-increasing role and responsibility

as a reliable energy supplier.

Bearing in mind that energy and environmental

problems are closely interconnected, I would like to

once again draw attention to the initiatives set forth by

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the President of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev,

from this rostrum a year ago (see A/62/PV.4). They call

for adoption of a Eurasian pact on the stability of

energy supplies, as well as development of a global

energy and environment strategy within the United

Nations framework.

Kazakhstan attaches critical importance to

problems associated with climate change and

sustainable development. To ensure the convergence of

the European and Asian processes of transition to

sustainable development and their merging into a

single Eurasian process, Kazakhstan has put forward an

initiative on convening in 2010 a conference of

ministers of environment, economy and social welfare

of the Asian and Pacific countries and a pan-European

conference on the environment for Europe in 2011.

We would like to express our profound

appreciation to the entire international community, the

United Nations and its agencies and programmes for

the support they rendered to our country in mitigating

the consequences of environmental disasters in the Aral

Sea and Semipalatinsk regions. Calling for continued

active international cooperation, we request support for

the draft resolutions to be submitted at the sixty-third

session of the General Assembly concerning the

problems of the Semipalatinsk region and granting the

International Fund to Save the Aral Sea observer status

at the General Assembly.

The growing number of natural and man-made

disasters makes it necessary to intensify international

cooperation as the most effective means of responding

to emergencies. Kazakhstan supports cooperation in

setting up national and regional platforms, exemplified

by the Central Asian Disaster Response Coordination

Centre.

We strongly believe that the special needs of

landlocked countries should be fully taken into account

in accordance with decisions and recommendations

based on the Almaty Programme of Action. We hope

that the forthcoming midterm review of the Programme

will result in the adoption of specific decisions on

assistance to this group of countries.

Escalation of ethno-territorial conflicts and

increased interfaith tensions indicate that we have

reached a critical turning point in our common history.

Under these circumstances, Kazakhstan has been

consistently and proactively pursuing a policy aimed at

ensuring inter-ethnic and interfaith accord, as well as

preserving political and social stability in our society.

Upon the initiative of our head of State, President

Nazarbayev, the Kazakh capital, Astana, hosted two

Congresses of Leaders of World and Traditional

Religions, in 2003 and 2006. With its next summit

meeting to be convened in 2009, this forum has already

proved to be an effective international mechanism for

promoting peace and tolerance on a global scale.

Kazakhstan is actively involved in the work of

the Group of Friends of the Alliance of Civilizations.

Our initiative to declare 2010 the International Year of

the Rapprochement of Cultures has been supported by

all Member States, as reflected in resolution 62/90. We

appeal to all countries and organizations of the United

Nations to prepare relevant plans for the attainment of

the goals of the International Year, in accordance with

the provisions of that resolution.

Taking further practical steps to promote dialogue

among civilizations, Kazakhstan has proposed the

convening of a ministerial conference to be entitled

“Common world: Progress through diversity”. Foreign

ministers from different regions of the planet have

been invited to attend the first meeting of that forum,

which is to be held in Astana in October.

As Kazakhstan prepares to assume the duties of

Chair of the Organization for Security and Cooperation

in Europe in 2010 and of the Ministerial Conference of

the Organization of the Islamic Conference in 2011, we

intend to use this unique opportunity to promote the

issues of ensuring greater tolerance and furthering

measures by member States against all forms of

discrimination as serious items in those organizations.

I would like to conclude my remarks with some

ancient oriental wisdom: “Between a man that digs a

hole and the man that fills it, there should always be a

third man ready to plant a tree”. In today’s world, the

United Nations performs that vital function by

fostering dialogue and cooperation among all peoples

and all States.