Kazakhstan, UN strengthen partnership in fight with international terrorism

NUR-SULTAN. KAZINFORM Ambassador-at-Large of the Kazakh Ministry of Foreign Affairs Stanislav Vassilenko had a meeting with a joint delegation of the UN Agencies including the representatives of the UN Office of Counter-Terrorism, UNDP and UN Office on Drugs and Crime, Kazinform reports.

Thesides discussed the opportunity of implementation of the project Strengthening Resilience to Violence and Extremismin Asia (STRIVE Asia): A Joint EU-UN Partnership inKazakhstan, according to the MFA's press service.

Thegoal of the STRIVE Asia project is to contribute to the prevention andcountering the violent extremism inCentral, Southern and Southeastern Asia through a multilateral approach withthe help of governments, security structures, civil society, researchcommunities and mass media in the nearest four years.

Accordingto the project developers, the spread of violent extremism poses a seriousthreat to the efforts of the international community in relation to peace andsecurity. The majority of the CentralAsian countries observe growth in radicalization and religious extremism causedby foreign terrorist fighters moving across the region or returning to theirhome countries.

Thetotal budget of the EU-donated project is $10mn.

Takinginto consideration the importance of rehabilitation and reintegration offoreign terrorist fighters (in custody) as well as the citizens of Kazakhstanevacuated from the combat areas of Syria during JUSAN humanitarian operation,the STRIVE Asia project may contribute to the strengthening of Kazakhstan’spotential in countering terrorism and extremism.