Kazakhstan: Astan signs Paris Climate Agreement

(AGI) - Astana, August 3 - Kazakhstan has signed the Paris Climate Agreement at the UN headquarters in New York. The 31-page document was signed by Foreign Affairs Minister of Kazakhstan Yerlan Idrissov who later met with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. According to the United Nations Radio, Kazakhstan had planned to sign the agreement in April along with other nations, but wasn't able to finalize internal procedures on time. According to the Kazakh Foreing Minister, Astana plans to ratify the agreement this year."We want to set the example. We have undertaken the commitment to ratify the document this year. Hopefully we will quickly ratify the agreement," Idrissov was quoted as saying. Idrissov reminded that Kazakhstan was committed to dramatically cut greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and that the Kazakh authorities set an ambitious long-term goal to generate 50% of energy using renewable energy resources by 2050. Kazakhstan is the host to Astana EXPO 2017 which the major topics are energy of the future and renewable energy. The EXPO 2017 will launch in June 2017 and more than 94 countries agreed to participate. (AGI) .