Military equipment and weapons with the label “Made in Kazakhstan” aroused great interest among the participants of the Symposium. International experts not only inspected the finished products, but also visited Kazakhstan’s enterprises.
The theme of this year’s Symposium is “Forecast. Protection. Prevention”, the participants focused on the following topics: BigData and cybersecurity, new technologies and environmental responsibility, telemedicine, improving peacekeeping intelligence practices, countering improvised explosive devices and other threats.
The event was attended by UN Under-Secretaries-General for Peacekeeping Operations – Jean-Pierre Lacroix and field support – A. Hare, the leadership of international organizations such as the CSTO, NATO, the European Union and the African Union (UN partners in peacekeeping operations), representatives of civil society, academia. In total, the event was attended by representatives of 70 countries.
Representatives of the international community involved in UN peacekeeping, explored partnership options and held a series of talks with enterprises of the defense industry of Kazakhstan. In addition, they familiarized themselves with product samples of the domestic military industrial complex produced by 26 domestic manufacturers, both during the exhibition organized by the Ministry of digital development, defense and aerospace industry of the Republic of Kazakhstan, and during a visit to enterprises.The UN delegation visited the enterprise “Kazakhstan Aselsan Engineering”, which fulfills the tasks of the defense industry for the production of electronic and optical products, as well as the largest enterprise in Central Asia for the production of modern armored wheeled vehicles “Kazakhstan Paramount Engineering”. As Talgat Zhanzhumenov, First Vice-Minister of the MDDDAI of the RK, noted during the visit, Kazakhstan’s enterprises of the military-industrial complex, fulfilling the tasks of providing the army and special structures with equipment and machinery, are also ready to expand the product line and are able to compete in the international equipment market and weapons.
The UN mission experts showed particular interest in armored wheeled vehicles “Arlan” and “Barys”, developed using MRAP technology (anti-mine protection technology), night-vision devices, mobile hospital / mobile medical groups systems with military technique, equipped by medical tools.
Taking into account modern trends and challenges, the participants of the Symposium also visited the international technopark of IT start-ups Astana Hub, where Askhat Orazbek, the Vice-Minister of the MDDDAI of the RK, shared Kazakhstan’s experience in using BigData and cybersecurity.
Along with this, a business seminar will be held in the cities of Nur-Sultan and Almaty with the participation of procurement experts of the UNPD (United Nations Development Program, organizing in the UN system for rendering free and non-political assistance to Member States in the field of development). During the seminars, the UN procurement procedures, evaluation criteria and supplier registration procedures, potential defense markets will be explained to representatives of the domestic defense industry.