Kazakhstan, Kyrgyztsan eye joint combat against world’s dangerous infections
Biological safety issues are coming to the fore due to threats posed by infectious diseases and their causative agents spreading round the world, largely such as COVID-19. To learn about the cooperation between Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan in this direction, read the material prepared by Kazinform News Agency correspondent.
Biological security is beginning to come into focus of the international community, as many governments are adopting security measures aimed at countering biological threats. In this context, the information about an allegedly deployment of US laboratories to develop biological weapons has appeared on several media outlets and social networks in the past few years. In 2022, the news prompted a reaction among the Kyrgyz public, opposing the construction of a laboratory to work with highly dangerous strains on the Kazakh-Kyrgyz border. According to Stopfake.kz, the information was denied by the Kazakh health ministry.
Besides, Zauresh Zhumadilova, director general of the Aikimbayeva National Scientific Center of Especially Dangerous Infections in Almaty, officially stated that there had been no US laboratories with foreign specialists in Kazakhstan during a meeting with a team of biological security experts from Kyrgyzstan.
Kazakhstan is to host the 4th meeting of the Coordinating Council of Authorized Bodies of the CSTO member states on biological security this September as part of its CSTO presidency. Kyrgyzstan is set to preside over the Organization next year.
In July, a Kyrgyz delegation made up of state body and expert community officials made a visit to the Central Reference Laboratory of the Aikimbayeva National Scientific Center of Especially Dangerous Infections at the invitation of the Kazakh side. The delegation representatives got familiarized with the activity and capabilities of the Center, its ongoing scientific studies, and training of specialists in biological security and protection. The meeting embarked on a new stage of cooperation in biological security between the two countries.
In the wake of the agreements reached to continue cooperation and deepen joint work in the field of biological security, a memorandum of mutual understanding and cooperation is set to be concluded between Kazakhstan’s Aikimbayeva National Scientific Center of Especially Dangerous Infections and Kyrgyzstan’s Republican Center for Quarantine and Particularly Dangerous Infections.
Under the document, the key areas of bilateral cooperation between Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan will be monitoring, exchange of relevant information and experiences in the combat against especially dangerous infections, training of professional specialists and upskilling of personnel, conducting scientific research in epidemiology, infectious diseases and especially dangerous infections, biological security and protection.
All these measures Kazakhstan is taking as part of its pursuit to set up the International Agency for Biological Safety at the UN level, suggested by the country’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, with the Biological Weapons Convention at its core.
