Representative of the European political circles and international experts share the same opinion that during the first half-year Kazakhstan has successfully chaired the authoritative international structure - Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev initiated the convocation of the Organization's Summit in 2010.
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Kazakhstan to Belgium and Luxemburg, Head of Kazakh Mission to the EU and NATO Yerik Utembayev told about the results of Kazakhstan's presidency in the OSCE, expectations for the OSCE Summit in Kazakhstan and prospects of our country in the Organization at a roundtable on 'Kazakhstan's presidency in the OSCE: results and new prospects' held in Brussels.
According to him, the chairmanship was started by the dynamic and ambitious program, which has been consistently realizing. The work on three dimensions of the OSCE: military and political, economic and environmental, humanitarian brings positive results.
OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Secretary of State and Minister of Foreign Affairs Kanat Saudabayev visited around 20 member states and held talks with the heads of foreign ministries of the USA, Russia, Switzerland, Turkey, Austria, Belgium, Spain, Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and others during that period of time.
The first round of consultations of the OSCE 'Troika' with the EU, meeting of K. Saudabayev with President of the EC H.V. Rompuy, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catharine Ashton, President of the European Commission J. M. Barroso, President of the European Parliament Jerzy Buzek, NATO Secretary General A. Fogh Rasmussen and the other EU leaders were held in late January.
'The consultations in the format of the CSTO and the CIS member states with the governing bodies of the Council of Europe and the PACE were held. The programs were presented in the Security Council and other institutions of the UN and at the NATO Headquarters at the meeting of Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council', Mr. Utebayev noted.
Special meeting 'Security and economic cooperation in Eurasia in 21st century' initiated by Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkey A. Davutoglu was held within the framework of the Third CICA Summit on June 7 in Istanbul. The strengthening of the interaction between the two regional structures - the OSCE and CICA was on the agenda.
'The first challenge Kazakhstan had while presiding over the OSCE was the tragic situation in Kyrgyzstan', Y. Utembayev said.
As is known, on April 8 K. Saudabayev expressed readiness of the OSCE to become a platform for the political dialogue on resolving the crisis. Special consultations were held with the Secretariat and institutions of the OSCE and with the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Russia, Spain, Lithuania, Germany, France, Turkey as well as UN General Secretary Ban Ki-moon and his assistant - Executive Secretary of the UN Economic Commission for Europe J. Kubish.
Special Envoy of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Deputy Chairman of the Majilis of Kazakhstan's Parliament, head of Kazakh-Kyrgyz interparliamentary group Z. Karibzhanov made a series of visits to Bishkek.
Herbert Zalber, Director of OSCE Secretariat Center on Conflict Prevention also paid a visit to Kyrgyzstan on the instruction of the Chairman-in-Office and Secretary General.
Senator A. Akhmetov, Secretary of the Senate's Committee on Foreign Relations, Defense and Security and Personal Envoy of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office on countering intolerance and discrimination against Muslims was appointed Special Representative of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly for monitoring the situation in Kyrgyzstan.
Karibzhanov, Akhmetov and Zalber held consultations with the Kyrgyz leading politicians and representatives of the United Nations, European Union and Collective Security Treaty Organization for the promotion of stabilization measures in the Kyrgyz Republic.
A key role in promotion of the European security dialogue belongs to the Corfu Process. In accordance with the declaration and decision made by the OSCE Foreign Ministers' Council in Athens on December 2009, Kazakhstan's chairmanship has launched activities to deepen the Corfu Process. It gives an opportunity to generalize approaches and ideas of all interested sides aimed at establishing a new security system in the Euro-Atlantic and Eurasian region.
As Mr. Utembayev noted, the European security is a notion covering the vast space of Eurasia. In this context Kazakhstan pays special attention to Afghanistan and holds activities on enhancement of border management level between the Central Asian states and Afghanistan, development of trans-border cooperation, strengthening of the capacity of Afghanistan's national border and law-enforcement services. Along with training of Afghanistan's customs, law-enforcement and border staff at the OSCE Border Management Staff College in Tajikistan and Customs Training Center in Kyrgyzstan, the organization is planning to develop new projects aimed at stabilizing the country. Since the beginning of 2010 Kazakhstan has been implementing the agreement on allocation of USD 50 million for training of 1,000 Afghani specialists at Kazakhstan's educational institutions.
The program of chairmanship is based on the promotion of existing formats of settling 'protracted conflicts'. Kazakhstan hopes to give a new impulse to the process of resolution of such problems.
Kazinform
04.08.2010
