Under the chairmanship of Kazakh Foreign Minister Kairat Abdrakhmanov, the first meeting of the Partnership Working Group on the advancement of the UN sustainable development goals in Kazakhstan took place, BNews,kz reports referring to a press service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 

Opening the meeting, the Foreign Minister urged the group's all participants to work actively, and noted that the sustainable development goals are fully correlated and in line with the strategic and programme documents of President Nursultan Nazarbayev, and accordingly the achievement of SDGs will directly facilitate the implementation of the head of state's initiatives. Importantly, the implementation of SDGs will be a practical indicator of the success of Kazakhstan's steps to enter the most developed countries of the world.  

During the meeting, the uniqueness of all 17 sustainable development goals was underlined, towards which all countries - poor, abundant and medium-income countries should work jointly. The task to eliminate poverty is set, as well as to implement the strategies stimulating economic growth and meeting social needs of people n education, healthcare, social protection, employment opportunities, solving the problems caused by climate changes, and to protect the environment.  

Credit: press service of Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan 

The event's participants discussed the advancement of the sustainable development goals in Kazakhstan, as well as the preparation of a voluntary national review that Kazakhstan will present at the high-level United Nations Political Forum in July 2019 in New York. 

The event was attended by representatives of the interested government agencies of Kazakhstan, international organizations, in particular, development programmes of the UN, UNICEF, UN Women, the European Union, the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, as well as research institutions and civil society organizations.

Credit: press service of Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan 

The sustainable development goals known as "2030 Agenda" are a collection of 17 global goals for future international cooperation that replaced the Millennium Development Goals in late 2015. It is planned to reach the SDGs by 2030.  

Inter-agency working groups in 5 areas, including 'People', 'Planet', 'Prosperity', 'Peace' and 'Partnership', were established under the Kazakh government to implement the SDGs. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan was chosen as a coordinator of the Partnership Working Group on the 17 Global 'Global Partnership for Sustainable Development'. The Ministry of National Economy of Kazakhstan coordinates this work at the country level.