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The First Information Center for Development Opens in Astana

ASTANA, KAZAKHSTAN (18 October 2005) – Information Center for Development (ICD) of three largest international development organizations - the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and the World Bank - in partnership with the National Academic Library of the Republic of Kazakhstan (NABRK), opened today in Astana. This is the first joint public information resource center in Kazakhstan aimed at wider information dissemination, knowledge transfer, learning facilitation and capacity building.

More than 70 representatives of public sector, academia, media, nongovernmental and international organizations participated in the opening ceremony. Loup Brefort, Country Manager of the World Bank, Gordon Johnson, UNDP Deputy Resident Representative, and Karin Oswald, ADB Senior Project Facilitator, jointly stated that this collaborative initiative will promote better understanding of the developmental activities among local stakeholders, and enhance their potential in delivering knowledge-based results. NGO and academia representatives underscored the importance of having such an information center for sharing best practices in all aspects of growth by other countries of the world. NABRK Deputy Director outlined, that ICD will benefit various public groups, including students, scientists, noncommercial organizations, officials and private sector representatives.

Located in the very heart of the new administrative center of Astana, ICD is designed to be a one-stop public access point for resources on the various social and economic aspects of development. It offers a range of facilities and services that stimulate development thinking to the general public, policy-makers and civil society organizations. It provides open access to the extensive data-bases on various development topics, world expertise, and up-to-date statistical and analytical information. ICD visitors enjoy consultations and assistance in information search, and free Internet connection. ICD collection comprises more than 1000 publications, periodicals and multimedia on developmental topics, economic overviews, and sector analyses; project documents and reports from multiple international organizations active in Kazakhstan; and international publishers’ books.

It is expected that ICD will host a number of public outreach events, such as publications launches, information search trainings, workshops and roundtable discussions on various topics, group tours and more in 2006.

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