Conference

The event.organized as part of theS DGs and Business Discussion Platform, was attended by Bakytgul Khambar, Director of ERI Secretariat of the Sustainable Development Goals .

The expert of the Economic Research Institute spoke about the main approaches and institutional foundations for ensuring the implementation of the UN Sustainable Development Goals in Kazakhstan, noting that each new inhabitant of the Earth requires additional resources and food.

According to her, since 2015, there has been a negative picture of the annual increase in the number of hungry people around the world, today this figure has reached 690 million people, or about 9% of the world's population. However, a significant proportion of undernourished people live in developing countries.

Khambar also said that the world Bank estimates that significant annual investment in rural and urban areas is needed to eliminate hunger by 2030, which could average about USD 267 bln.

Speaking about the situation in Kazakhstan, she noted that the critical issue is food security and "hidden hunger", that is, malnutrition, obesity, and micro-nutrient deficiencies. Ensuring food security depends primarily on sustainable agricultural development. She also noted the special importance of business in ensuring sustainable development and called on everyone to actively engage in SDGs implementation.

During the conference, such issues as physical and economic availability of food, food quality, and solving food security issues through the development of small and medium-sized businesses in rural areas were discussed.

Speakers: Kairat Nazhmidenov, the Head of the UN FAO Office for Relations and Partnerships in the Republic of Kazakhstan, Aikhan Sultan, the representative of the Ministry of Agriculture, Alexandra Akkirman, the Manager for Government and Public Relations of Coca-Cola International Company in Central Asia and the Caucasus, Assel Akhmedova, Communications Manager of Philip Morris Kazakhstan, Svetlana Mauteeva, the Head of Nur Farm of Burly district of West Kazakhstan region, the Leader of SDG 1 "No Poverty".

Alexandra Akkirman reported on the Coca-Cola Belesteri project, in the framework of which women annually receive grants to launch their own small businesses, especially in the agricultural sector. Assel Akhmedova, in turn, presented the experience of a farming project in the village of Chilik, Enbekshikazakh district of Almaty region, which the company has been sponsoring for the past few years. The project introduces research and innovative approaches in vegetable growing, including the use of beneficial insects as natural regulators of pest numbers, as well as the use of exclusivel.organic fertilizers in greenhouses.

For reference: the Initiator of the project is SDG-2030 in Kazakhstan Public Institute, established by a group of NGOs: Expo&Women International Organization, G-Global Green Economy And Development Coalition and Agricultural Union of Women of Kazakhstan, Alliance of Volunteers of Kazakhstan in partnership with international partners - Philip Morris Kazakhstan, and СоcaCola International Company.