A new edition of the UN Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) has just been issued for Kazakhstan for 2010-2015. A signing ceremony between the UN and the Government took place on 3 April 2009 at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan in its offices in the capital Astana. Deputy Foreign Minister Mr Nurlan Danenov and UN Resident Coordinator in Kazakhstan Mr Haoliang Xu signed the document which was also countersigned by 18 UN Agencies. This is the first time when UN Non-Resident Agencies where involved. Mr Manase Peter Salema, Director TC Division for Europe signed the document on behalf of the IAEA. IAEA's presence at the ceremony and involvement in the UNDAF process was specially noted and welcomed by Mr Haoliang Xu.
The UN team offers comparative advantages with regard to achieving further tangible progress toward the Millennium Development Goals, drawing on its values, global knowledge base, best practices and lessons learnt; its strong normative mandate and track record in Kazakhstan; its neutrality; and its ability to encourage efficient coordination and facilitate accountability among donors.
The development will also bring more visibility to the IAEA's effort at a new level after 15 years of presence in the country. This also provides a link to key areas of the new TC Country Programme Framework for 2010-2015 due to be signed for Kazakhstan during the IAEA General Conference in September 2009.
In the overall goal to assist Kazakhstan in achieving its national competitiveness agenda the new UNDAF will address three inter-related priority areas. These are:
(1) Economic and Social Well-Being for All;
(2) Environmental Sustainability; and
(3) Effective Governance.
The IAEA, through its TC programme in Kazakhstan, will contribute to the first two areas, in particular providing support towards achieving the objectives in the health sector (nuclear medicine), environmental monitoring of radiological hazards and agriculture (sustainable crop intensification through mutation breeding).
The total resources to be mobilized in support of UNDAF implementation amount indicatively to $79.39 million over the period 2010-2015. IAEA plans to contribute $700,000 under three TC projects with possibility of further disbursements in coordination with relevant government requests in the future TCP periods.