Secretary-General's remarks at the Centre for Sustainable Development Goals for Central Asia and Afghanistan [as delivered]
United Nations Secretary-General
Almaty, Kazakhstan
03 August 2025
António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations
Distinguished President Tokayev and my dear friend,
Honourable Ministers,
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is a profound honour to join you today.
We have just signed the host country agreement for the United Nations Regional Centre for the Sustainable Development Goals for Central Asia and Afghanistan.
The Centre represents the opening of a new chapter - for the region and for our collective journey towards the Sustainable Development Goals.
It symbolizes the new era of cooperation in Central Asia - grounded in shared priorities and solutions.
And it holds great potential for showing how the strong bonds among the region's leaders can translate into deeper economic integration, for the benefit of all people.
This is more essential than ever.
And I commend President Tokayev for his vision and his leadership in helping to shape this new Central Asia that will become more and more a fundamental power in our world order.
I thank Member States for supporting this initiative.
And I salute the people of Kazakhstan for their warm welcome.
Almaty is a fitting home for this Centre.
This is a city of history, resilience, and vision.
And Kazakhstan is an ideal and generous host.
This country has long served as a bridge between East and West, tradition and innovation.
The Centre has been mandated by the General Assembly, and I look forward to its operationalization - with terms of reference being finalized and leadership appointments to follow.
Soon, it will serve as a hub for regional collaboration ... a laboratory for ideas ... and a launchpad for action.
It will bring together governments, UN country teams, civil society, academia, the private sector, regional organizations, and financial institutions - to develop coordinated, country-led efforts;
And tackle some of the most pressing challenges of our time - from climate change and water scarcity to youth unemployment, gender inequality and digital exclusion.
Working together with our Resident Coordinators and Country Teams, it will contribute to accelerating progress toward the 2030 Agenda in Central Asia and Afghanistan - driven by the spirit of solidarity and shared responsibility that defines the United Nations.
Excellencies, dear friends,
We are only five years away from 2030 - but far from our destination.
The world is facing complex and interlinked challenges that threaten sustainable development.
Poverty is stalling. Hunger and malnutrition are plaguing societies. Inequalities are deepening. Conflicts continue to tear communities apart. And the climate crisis is accelerating.
In Central Asia, climate change is already draining water supplies, melting glaciers, and fuelling natural disasters.
The shrinking of the Aral Sea is a stark reminder of the region's environmental vulnerability.
Rising trade tensions and global uncertainty compound these risks.
The region's landlocked geography presents additional barriers - to trade, connectivity, financing, and access to global markets.
That is why I am especially pleased to be here on the eve of the Third United Nations Conference on Landlocked Developing Countries in Turkmenistan.
This Centre can become a vital pioneer in implementing the Programme of Action for Landlocked Developing Countries;
Today, we must say that Kazakhstan is no longer a landlocked country. Kazakhstan is a centre in the global trade system.
A centre in the global logistics, transportation and the telecommunication system with its corridors on roads, railways, fiber optics and transforming this country in really a bridge from East and West, North and South.
And the Centre can help ensure that the aspirations of landlocked nations are not constrained by geography - but can empower by cooperation and regional solutions.
It will build on the region's greatest asset - its people.
Young people, women, entrepreneurs, and civil society - these are the true engines of progress, driving the innovation and resilience needed to leave no one behind.
The Centre will support data-driven policy, spark innovation, and amplify the voices of those too often unheard.
And nowhere is that cooperation more urgent than in our support to Afghanistan.
The people of Afghanistan continue to face immense hardship - from entrenched poverty and mass displacement to earthquakes, climate shocks, and a fragile humanitarian landscape.
They deserve peace, stability and a better future. And I am very grateful for the cooperation Kazakhstan has been developing in recent times.
And this Centre will work with partners across the region and the international community to support Afghanistan's path to sustainable development - with full respect for human rights, including the rights of women and girls, and with a focus on economic self-sufficiency, peace, and dignity.
Excellencies, dear friends,
This Centre carries the promise of partnership and progress.
The United Nations stands ready to support you in this mission.
But allow me before ending to say something that comes from my heart.
I am a great admirer of Kazakhstan. Kazakhstan is for me a symbol of wisdom, a bridge builder and a messenger for peace. A platform for people of different ethnic and religious groups to come together and find a common destiny.
I will never forget that Kazakhstan renounced its nuclear weapons and became, based on their attitude, a symbol of peace and disarmament that is necessary today more than ever.
And Kazakhstan has always been a voice of reason in a world where unfortunately reason is having many difficulties to assert itself.
On the other hand, we are witnessing a renewed Central Asia. I come to Central Asia since18 years ago, and I remember how it was, and I see how it is, and it is largely thanks to the leadership, the vision and the wisdom of leaders like President Tokayev, that it was possible to transform a group of countries that have probably more problems and difficulties, that there is an effective cooperation to cohesive Central Asia that is becoming an extremely important Centre in today's world and in today's global economy.
And so, to come to Kazakhstan, to come to Almaty, is not only because there is a Centre to inaugurate. It's because I feel, as Secretary-General, that I must pay tribute to what Kazakhstan represents in our troubled world today as a voice of wisdom and reason, as a symbol of peace and cooperation.
Thank you very much.
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