Security Council meeting in Astana

Today, on 15 January, a regular meeting of the Security Council of RoK chaired by president Nursultan Nazarbaev took place, at which the issues of the threats to ecologic safety of the Republic and measures on the management of the man-caused and natural emergencies, KZ-today correspondent reports from the capital.

According to Omirkhan Oxikbaev, secretary of the Security Council who has spoken at the meeting, presently "more than 20 billion tons of waste" have been accumulated in the Republic, "of which more than 5 billion tons is toxic waste". The main sources of pollution are enterprises of metal industry, mining and oil & gas area, he observed. Moreover, the development of Caspian shelf can provoke an aggravation of ecological situation, teh Security Council meeting noted.

According to Aitkul Samakova, minister of environment, a project of the commission estabishment представлен проект создания комиссии и программа по устойчивому развитию was presented to the president. "It appears that it is going to be a consultative-advisory board by the president, whose area of activity will cover, in particular, the issues of measures against desertification, concerning ecology, healthcare etc.", - she noted. The minister also asserted that the government will make ecological demands stricter and support the development of wasteless technologies. Besides, she advised, the issue of ecological insurance and ecological audit is considered. According to the minister, last year the payments into the budget for the sole pollution of the atmosphere made 7.7 billion tenge.

Moreover, at the Security Council session the issue of scientific and technical potential and technological development in the strategic areas of RoK was discussed.