At a time of increased great power skepticism toward international organizations, Kazakhstan is demonstrating its commitment to realizing the vision of the United Nations.
On August 3, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev signed a host country agreement to establish the U.N. Regional Center for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Almaty, covering Central Asia and Afghanistan.
Until now, no dedicated U.N. regional structure existed to coordinate SDG efforts in Central Asia. For a region facing complex environmental, demographic, and security challenges, a tailored and locally rooted SDG coordination mechanism is long overdue.
The establishment of the U.N. SDG Regional Center is a sign that the U.N. is recognizing the importance of engaging with member-states within their regional contexts. In October this year, the U.N. will mark its 80th anniversary amid intensifying regional conflicts and great power confrontation. The organization, established at the end of World War II to secure international peace, now finds itself hampered by funding cuts and inefficiencies. A recent U.N. report found that its own reports were not widely read.
Facing such challenges, the SDG Regional Center signifies U.N. efforts to optimize resources by localizing efforts and recognizing that “one-size-fits-all” approaches do not work.
“The powers and functions of this Center will not overlap with the activities of other organizations either within the region or beyond,” said Tokayev. “On the contrary, the Center will complement the efforts already undertaken, bringing additional value by focusing on the real needs of the residents of the entire region.” He noted that it is necessary to enhance collaboration to address shared challenges, such as the environmental degradation of the Aral Sea and the shrinking of the Caspian Sea.
Why Kazakhstan?
Tokayev first proposed the center at the U.N. in 2019 and has continued to advocate for it as part of Kazakhstan’s broader development diplomacy.
Over the years, the country has aimed to deepen its engagement with multilateral institutions, looking to position itself as a convener of dialogue in a region often shaped by geopolitical fault lines. It has hosted major international summits for the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, and the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia, the latter originally proposed by Kazakhstan itself. In 2017, it launched the “Astana Process,” providing a diplomatic platform for discussions on the Syrian crisis. And last year, Almaty hosted talks between Azerbaijan and Armenia.
Through these initiatives, Kazakhstan is aiming to build credibility as a neutral facilitator capable of bringing diverse actors to the table, whether in the context of security, regional cooperation, or humanitarian dialogue. The establishment of the U.N. Regional Center in Almaty is a natural extension of this trajectory for Kazakhstan. The city already hosts 18 U.N. agencies, therefore offering infrastructure, security, and regional accessibility.
In addition, Kazakhstan maintains stable and pragmatic relations with all its neighbors, including major powers that are often in tension with one another: Russia, China, the United States, and the European Union. Rather than aligning too closely with any one bloc, Kazakhstan has cultivated diplomatic flexibility, allowing it to host dialogues and initiatives that might be politically untenable elsewhere. In the context of the new SDG Regional Center, this positioning is particularly valuable: Kazakhstan’s neutrality makes it an accessible host for a U.N. body intended to serve a diverse set of countries, including conflict-affected Afghanistan.
Why Central Asia Needs an SDG Center
Central Asia continues to deal with significant climate and ecological vulnerabilities. Kyrgyzstan’s Tajikistan’s glaciers are melting, over 20 percent of Central Asian soil is degraded, facing worsening desertification, and without coordinated action, the risk of widespread desertification will continue to grow. Water scarcity also remains unresolved – three in 10 Central Asians live without ready access to clean water. With river systems such as the Syr Darya and Amu Darya crossing multiple national boundaries, any meaningful solution requires regional cooperation rather than isolated national interventions. In this regard, Tokayev announced that Kazakhstan will host a Regional Environment Summit in Astana in April 2026 in partnership with U.N. agencies.
Furthermore, Afghanistan remains a pressing concern for the region. Since the Taliban’s return to power in 2021, Central Asian governments have cautiously expanded diplomatic and economic engagement with Kabul, seeking to maintain stability along their southern borders while avoiding overt political alignment. These efforts have included high-level meetings, humanitarian aid, and targeted infrastructure investments, particularly from Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and Kazakhstan. However, the absence of a coordinated regional framework has limited the coherence of these initiatives. The establishment of the SDG Regional Center in Almaty can address this gap.
As noted by Tokayev, “Kazakhstan remains committed to supporting the Afghan people through humanitarian aid, educational projects, trade development and food security initiatives. The volume of trade between our countries is steadily growing. We are convinced that peace and development in Afghanistan must go hand in hand.”
Overall, the SDG Center can act as a regional integrator, allowing it to be a hub for coordinating U.N. agencies, donors, and local governments while providing technical support for tracking SDG implementation. Most importantly for Central Asia, the center can further elevate the region’s voice in the U.N. by clarifying its priorities and aligning it with the interests of the great powers. In doing so, it may help shift perceptions of Central Asia from that of a passive recipient of aid or a geopolitical buffer zone to an active contributor to global development goals. At the same time, the success of the center will depend on sustained engagement, transparent governance, and a commitment to regional ownership over externally imposed agendas.
Guterres said at the inauguration event that his visit is not only about signing the host country agreement but also about giving global visibility to “a very important project.” “Kazakhstan is a symbol of wisdom, a country that is a peacemaker and builds bridges between peoples,” he stated. “Kazakhstan has been and remains the voice of reason in a world where, unfortunately, there is less and less room for reason itself.”