EU & Europe

Photo: Journalists experience United Nations Virtual Reality (unvr.org) at the Global Campaign Center of the UN SDG Action Campaign in Bonn. Photo: photothek/Ina Fassbender

Germany to Host Hub for Fostering Action on SDGs

BONN (IDN-INPS | UN News Centre) – Together with the Government of Germany, the United Nations SDG Action Campaign offered a behind-the-scenes tour of the Global Campaign Center in Bonn, a new hub that will deliver on the Campaign’s mandate to inspire action on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

“The Center will equip the Campaign to deliver on its mandate to foster buy-in of the SDGs among all stakeholders, facilitate mechanisms for public engagement in SDGs participatory monitoring and accountability, and create an open and inclusive SDG people’s action platform. We look forward to working side by side with our neighbours in the Knowledge Center for Sustainable Development of the UN System Staff College and the broader UN Bonn family,” said Mitchell Toomey, Global Director the UN SDG Action Campaign.

: IDN-INPS UN Bureau; UN INSIDER; 16 December 2016

Photo: Kazakh Foreign Minister Erlan Idrissov addressing Astana Conference. Credit: The Astana Times.

Conference Lauds Kazakh Achievements Over 25 Years

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK | ASTANA (IDN) – As Kazakhstan inches towards celebrating 25th anniversary of its independence on December 16, senior officials from the European Union, Russia and China as well as parliamentarians and experts from several countries have commended the country's achievements since 1991 and welcomed its new international role as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council beginning January 2017 for two years.

Chairman of the Mazhilis (lower chamber of Parliament) Nurlan Nigmatulin reflected the views of participants in an international conference in Astana, when he said the election of Kazakhstan, as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council in 2017-2018 was a "convincing evidence of the high international authority of Kazakhstan and its leader Nursultan Nazarbayev".

: J Nastranis; UN INSIDER; 04 December 2016

Peace with Russia is Possible

By Jonathan Power

LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) - Trotsky, the one-time close comrade of Lenin, reportedly said, “You may not be interested in war but war is interested in you”.

This is how it seems to have been with President Barack Obama when it comes to his policy towards Russia. Having come to power with President Vladimir Putin open to a closer relationship after the aggressive pushing forward of NATO’s frontier during the time of presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, Obama will leave the presidency with a state of hostility between the Russia and the U.S. that most thought had evaporated once the Cold War ended in 1991.

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 22 November 2016

Photo: (left to right) Chairman of the Senate of the Parliament of Kazakhstan, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev; President Nazarbayev; Executive Secretary of the Preparatory Commission of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO), Lassina Zerbo. Credit: www.kazembassy.org.uk

Kudos for Kazakh Commitment to Peace and Nuke-Free World

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – A close look at the voting on a ground-breaking resolution adopted by the Disarmament and International Security Committee of the United Nations General Assembly on October 27 underlines Kazakhstan's unflinching commitment to a nuclear-weapons free world. And a U.S. foreign policy expert has commended this.

The resolution Taking forward multilateral nuclear disarmament negotiations approved by 123 votes – as against 38 rejections and 16 abstentions – establishes a UN conference in 2017 "to negotiate a legally binding instrument to prohibit nuclear weapons, leading towards their total elimination".

: J Nastranis; UN INSIDER; 06 November 2016

President Nazarbayev addressing the UN General Assembly in September 2015.

Kazakh Award for Jordanian King Backs WMD-Free Middle East

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – "At a time when the international community is seeing a renewal of big-power rivalry and debating the pros and cons of nuclear technology, the initiative of Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev in establishing the Nazarbayev Prize for a Nuclear-Weapons-Free World and Global Security is both prescient and timely," says Ong Keng Yong, Ambassador-at-Large at the Singapore Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

He is referring to the decision to award the Nazarbayev Prize for a Nuclear-Weapons-Free World and Global Security to King Abdullah II of Jordan who has worked tirelessly to secure peace and stability in the Middle East where efforts to declare the region free of weapons of mass destruction including nuclear weapons failed in 2015.

: J Nastranis; ARMAMENTS; 28 October 2016

Mikhail Gorbachev. Source: Video message

Learning from the Reykjavik Summit 30 Years On

By Lowana Veal

REYKJAVIK (IDN) - At a time when there is a sharp deterioration in relations between the United States and Russia, triggered by disputes over Ukraine, the Crimea and Syria, the capital of Iceland hosted experts, diplomats and researchers on October 10-11 to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the historic Reykjavik Summit between Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev.

IDN, a flagship agency of the International Press Syndicate group, spoke to some of the participants of the commemorative event, the initiative for which came from the International Peace Institute (IPI) in New York. What prompted them to organize the event?

: Lowana Veal; ARMAMENTS; 18 October 2016

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (second from left) with Olafur Ragnar Grimsson, former President of Iceland, on his left.

Arctic Circle Assembly in Iceland Discusses Sustainability

By Lowana Veal

REYKJAVIK (IDN) - With over 2,000 participants, including 400 speakers, the fourth Arctic Circle Assembly in Iceland's capital Reykjavik was a hive of activity and networking on everything to do with the Arctic. The event has become the largest Arctic event globally.

The concept of the gathering October 7-9 was devised by Olafur Ragnar Grimsson, who until a few months ago had been President of Iceland and had put considerable time into Arctic matters and climate change. Grimsson still plays a central role in the Assembly.

: Lowana Veal; SUSTAINABILITY; Climate Action; 16 October 2016

Photo: Vladimer Vaishvili | UNDP Georgia

Sustainable Development at Risk in E. Europe, Central Asia

By Jaya Ramachandran

BERLIN | BRUSSELS (IDN) - Unless adequate steps are taken with relentless determination, the core objective of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) agreed by all member states of the United Nations in September 2015, which recommend that "no one be left behind", will not be achieved in Eastern Europe and Central Asia.

This is the crux of a United Nations report titled 'Progress at Risk', published on October 12 in Brussels. Goals 8 and 10 of the SDGs – aiming to "promote inclusive and sustainable economic growth, employment and decent work for all" and "reduce inequality within and among countries" – are being ignored.

: Jaya Ramachandran; UN INSIDER; 13 October 2016

President Reagan says goodbye to Soviet General Secretary Gorbachev after the last meeting at Hofdi House, Reykjavik, Iceland. White House Photo, official government record.

The Legacy of the Reykjavik Summit – The Road Ahead

By Jayantha Dhanapala*

This is an expanded version of thoughts expressed by the author at a conference organized by the International Peace Institute (IPI) with the Foreign Ministry of Iceland on October 10-11 to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the Summit meeting between U.S. President Ronald Reagan and his Soviet counterpart Mikhail Gorbachev.

REYKJAVIK (IDN) - Richard Rhodes, the famous author of several books on nuclear weapons, including the Pulitzer Prize-winning “The Making of the Atomic Bomb” (1986), has written a play entitled “Reykjavik” dramatizing the famous Summit. At the conclusion he has Gorbachev say, “Reykjavik is not a failure – it’s a breakthrough”.

: Jayantha Dhanapala; ARMAMENTS; 13 October 2016

EXPO 2017 Commissioner Garners Support at the UN

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – 2017 will be an important year for Kazakhstan, a transcontinental country in northern Central Asia and Eastern Europe. Not only because on January 1 the country begins its two-year term as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council, but also because it will host EXPO 2017 from June 10 to September 20.

By creating a platform to showcase cutting edge technologies that could provide solutions to energy issues, official sources said the EXPO will establish Kazakhstan as "a global leader on the challenge of future energies” and it will serve as a catalyst for Kazakhstan's transition to a "green" economy.