ASTANA, Kazakhstan

On 5 September 2018, SRSG Natalia Gherman took part in the regional conference "Empowerment of women in Afghanistan", which was organized by the Government of Kazakhstan.

In her opening speech, SRSG Gherman conveyed best wishes from Ms. Rosemary DiCarlo, the United Nations Under-Secretary General for Political Affairs, for the successful outcome of the conference. She also reiterated that empowering women is critical to the United Nations and commended the countries of the region for increasingly active engagement with Afghanistan as a neighbor and partner. Concluding her remarks, SRSG Gherman underlined that both UNRCCA and the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan stand ready to support the region’s efforts in implementing the Women, Peace and Security agenda.

On the sidelines of the conference, SRSG Gherman met with Mr. Kairat Abdrakhmanov, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan and Ms. Dariga Nazarbayeva, Chairperson of the International Relations, Defense and Security Committee of the Senate of the Parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan to discuss issues relating to current and future cooperation between Kazakhstan and the United Nations. SRSG Gherman informed her interlocutors on the UNRCCA regional preventive agenda in the field of countering terrorism and extremism, transboundary water management and connecting Afghanistan into regional cooperation processes with Central Asia. In the context of the conference, the parties exchanged their views on initiatives to support and promote the process of empowering women of Afghanistan. Both Minister Abdrakhmanov and Senator Nazarbayeva expressed full support of the Republic of Kazakhstan for the initiatives of UNRCCA to establish a dialogue between the countries of Central Asia and its efforts within the priority areas of the UNRCCA mandate.