Kazakhstan to set up international development agency
By Aynur Jafarova
An agency for international development will be established in Kazakhstan according to a decision of President Nursultan Nazarbayev, the president's website reported.
"Work is currently underway to establish the Agency for International Development (KAZAID)," Nazarbayev said last week at an annual meeting with the heads of foreign diplomatic missions accredited in Kazakhstan. "It will provide technical assistance to our neighbors and other countries. We are ready to establish such a center either in our capital [Astana] or in Almaty."
He added that such an entity is aimed at a stable regional and global development.
The Kazakh Foreign Ministry earlier said that establishing KAZAID aims to provide official development assistance to other Central Asian countries.
Describing the strategic goals and tasks for the coming decades, Nazarbayev said that Kazakhstan has launched establishment of the Regional Center of Multilateral Diplomacy in Almaty. 16 organizations, including specialized UN agencies with regional and sub-regional status, will be involved in the center's work.