Almaty has now joined the League of Global Urban Development Centers, according to the Finprom.kz portal. Experts note that the status of the UN hub for Sustainable Development Goals for Central Asia and Afghanistan will allow the Kazakh city to become a catalyst for growth for the entire region with the population of over 115 million people. In addition, the new status enhances Almaty’s potential to attract international finance and advanced technologies to address specific SDG targets. It also expands the opportunities of the metropolis to form an international competence center and scale up successful projects for export to the countries of Central Asia, the EAEU and the SCO, as well as Afghanistan. It bears noting that in late September, Almaty became the world’s first regional hub city promoting the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
