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Kazakhstan proposes building UN regional center in Almaty

17 October 2013 03:11 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Kazakhstan on Wednesday proposed building a UN regional center for humanitarian assistance in its largest city of Almaty, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

"In the recent few years, Kazakhstan has become a home for some UN regional structures and other international organizations," Foreign Minister Erlan Idrissov said during an address to the Senate in Astana, the country's capital.

This has laid a solid foundation for launching a UN regional center in Almaty with a focus on humanitarian aid, including building UN humanitarian assistance storehouses for emergency situations, the minister added.

Noting that the vast territory between Vienna and Bangkok lacks meaningful UN representation offices, he said, "Such facilities will be of use to the region."

The work of the UN center could cover not only Central Asia and Afghanistan, but also the Caucasus, Iran, Pakistan and Mongolia, he added, suggesting raising the status of the current UN's presence in Almaty to that of a regional center headed by a UN deputy secretary general.