(Itar-Tass) - Kazakhstan has been for the first time admitted to the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). In the course of elections of 18 new ECOSOC members at the UN General Assembly on Thursday, Kazakhstan was supported by 187 out of a total of 192 UN member states considerably exceeding the required minimum of two-thirds of the votes, reports Trend.
ECOSOC comprising 54 member states coordinates the work of 14 specialised UN institutions, 10 functional and five regional commissions, gives recommendations to organisations of the UN system and UN member states. In accordance with the UN Charter, ECOSOC is responsible for the promotion of better living standards, full employment, economic and social progress. ECOSOC controls over 70 percent of human and financial resources of the UN system.
The Central Asian region the representative of which is Kazakhstan has never been represented in ECOSOC, Kazakhstan's Permanent Representative to the United Nations Yerzhan Kazykhanov told Itar-Tass. We are certain that the Central Asian region with its huge territory and population exceeding 50 million should have its representative in this very influential body, said the official.
This necessity is caused by a complex of economic and social problems that are very severe in our region, he noted. The Kazakh ambassador named among these problems drug trafficking and illegal migration, increasing of the poverty scale and spread of HIV-AIDS, desertification and death of the Aral Sea, worsening of ecological security and drinking water deficiency.
Kazykhanov stressed that Kazakhstan as an ECOSOC member intends to draw most serious attention of the UN member states to these and other problems of Central Asia, the same as problems of other regions of the world.
Kazakhstan is certain that its election to the ECOSOC will help really implement one of the UN Charter principles on equal geographic representation of member states in UN bodies, the Kazakh envoy said.
Kazakhstan intends as a matter of priority to promote the development of a global dialogue between the state, international financial institutions, non-governmental organisations and the private sector on problems of global politics in the economic, social, ecological and humanitarian spheres, said Kazykhanov.