The first “Peacekeepers of Kazakhstan: Mission of Peace” forum, dedicated to the International Day of UN Peacekeepers, was held in Almaty at the International Information Technology University (IITU).

The event was dedicated to the International Day of UN Peacekeepers, which has been celebrated around the world since 2003. The forum was attended by representatives of the UN Mission in the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Center for Peacekeeping Operations “KazCENT”, the National University of Defense of the Republic of Kazakhstan, heads and students of military departments of universities.

Since joining the UN, Kazakhstan has been and remains an important actor in ensuring stability and security in the Central Asian region, widely supporting the peace initiatives of this authoritative international organization. At the UN General Assembly, Head of State K. Tokayev outlined the strategic issues of the world scale, requiring urgent solutions. His idea of transforming Almaty into the UN Regional Humanitarian Hub for the Sustainable Development Goals is supported at the highest international level, including the academic community.

In his opening speech, IITU Rector Askar Khikmetov noted: “The university has become a full member of the United Nations Academic Impact Program. Wishing to contribute to the promotion of ten generally recognized principles, including “Sustainable Development” and “Peace and Conflict Resolution”, we actively support and promote their implementation. In this regard, we initiated the first “Peacekeepers of Kazakhstan: Mission of Peace” forum.”

Welcoming the forum participants, representative of the UN Department of Global Communications Vlastimil Samek noted that UN peacekeeping missions remain the most proven and effective tool for maintaining peace and security in conflict zones. He focused on Kazakhstan’s active peacekeeping activities and emphasized the success, which has led to the current independent mission in the Golan Heights.

The head of the Center for Peacekeeping Operations of the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Colonel Bauyrzhan Nigmetullin, familiarized the event participants in detail with the training system for Kazakh peacekeepers. He covered issues of interaction with UN structures, international standards, and requirements for candidates, and spoke about the peculiarities of carrying out missions in different regions and countries.

During the forum, issues were raised regarding the formation of human capital and training of qualified military personnel equipped with knowledge and skills of responsible use of information technology. It was noted that this has now become especially relevant, due to the transformation of the manner of conducting military operations. In this regard, the development of information technology projects, including artificial intelligence, gains importance. Several IITU projects were demonstrated as examples, among which was a prototype of “Tomiris” wrist gadget used to analyze human health condition via satellite with UAVs search integration; an autonomous medical laboratory, and “Geotactics” tactical simulator, which can be used at all stages of the peacekeeping mission.

Based on the results of the work, the participants reviewed a draft resolution with proposals for conducting research on peacekeeping activities and special courses for students of military departments. They supported the initiative to create, on the basis of IITU, a partner network of military departments of universities in Kazakhstan on peacekeeping under the auspices of the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Kazakhstan.