Kazakhstan
The waves of global crises which have embraced the planet since the beginning of the millennium have made the development interdependence and correlation increasingly explicit, as well as the need for integrating countries’ efforts to pursue ways for common survival and joint prosperity.
In spite of the declared commitment of all nations to the principles of sustainable development and despite on-going activities, development disparities have continued to grow:
in the economic area the disparities among countries have increased in terms of economic development (from 1985 the differences in per capita income between poor and rich countries increased from a factor of 52 to a factor of 78); in the ecological area there has been an increase of natural disasters and greenhouse gas concentration (over 20 years the CO2 concentration has increased by over 30% and in 2010 it was close to reaching the critical level where the corresponding global temperature rise is projected to be more than 2°C);
in the energy area the differences in energy consumption per capita between countries with low per capita income and below-middle per capita income have increased eight times, and differences in oil consumption have increased six times. Between 1970 and 2009, the world has faced six economic crises, which were directly or indirectly related to energy issues and which consequently resulted in further disparities.
These interacting, and subsequently each other enhancing, crisis phenomena have challenged society’s readiness to address issues successfully, both in strategic and medium-term perspectives. Thus, the overall system of interdependencies in the global community is facing large shocks and new challenges which must be duly responded to.
On other hand, the mounting global crisis opens up unique opportunities for self-renewal while simultaneously leaving us less and less time for their practical fulfilment. The United Nations could start revising and considerably changing the Third Millennium Agenda. This is extremely important in order to enable a timely and qualitative transition of the world and humanity from the old world order to a radically new one.
It is absolutely clear that one cannot address the global problems alone. Developed countries are suffering from financial ‘bubbles’ (with a sort of virtual capital), the ecology of consumption and energy dependence; whereas developing countries are suffering from the ecology of production, the decline in demand for primary products as well as inadequate health, culture and education. Most countries do not have sufficient capacity and can scarcely rely on their national research and development resources for innovation breakthrough. Thus, they are forced to import scientific and technological achievements. Powerful, mutually beneficial transfers of technologies from leading civilizations and countries to the ones falling behind should therefore become the basis for an innovation and technological partnership strategy. This is a partnership which both parties are interested in, and is also the reason why Kazakhstan advocates for both global and regional integration.
In his speech at the 66th session of the UN General Assembly in September 2011, the President of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev suggested revising the cornerstones of the existing development paradigm and proposed the Global Energy- Ecological Strategy and the ‘Green Bridge’ Interregional Partnership Programme as the first practical steps.
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