UN’s Guterres Back in Central Asia for Meetings About Development

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres is traveling to Central Asia this weekend to help promote stability and transformation in the region, his office says. 

Guterres will be in Kazakhstan on Sunday to witness, alongside President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, the signing of a host country agreement for a U.N. regional center for sustainable development goals for Central Asia and Afghanistan. Kazakhstan’s envoy to the U.N., Kairat Umarov, has said that the initiative aims to strengthen regional economies and trade networks, create jobs and cut migration flows.  

“We are confident that over time, economic stability will pave the way for a gradual political transformation of Afghanistan, including progress in the field of women’s rights,” Umarov has said. 

Trade between Central Asia and Afghanistan is increasing, but there are international concerns about Taliban-ruled Afghanistan’s humanitarian crisis, the threat of terrorism and human rights violations, particularly toward women and girls. 

After the stop in Kazakhstan, Guterres will go to Awaza, Turkmenistan, to attend a U.N. conference on landlocked, developing countries. 

“He will reaffirm the need to help the landlocked developing countries overcome physical barriers and connect to global markets, including by leveraging artificial intelligence to strengthen early warning systems,” said Farhan Haq, deputy spokesman for Guterres. 

The August 5-8 conference will explore ways to expand the economic potential of countries that lack direct ocean access and rely on transit nations, thereby facing obstacles to trade and development. Countries that are classified as landlocked and developing by the conference include Afghanistan, ​Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

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