OSCE Chairperson-in-Office: Kazakhstan Works to Strengthen Organization

Kazakhstan says its recent efforts to defuse political tensions in neighbouring Kyrgyzstan has demonstrated the effectiveness of its current chairmanship of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. Kanat Saudabayev, minister of foreign affairs, says: “The tragic events in Kyrgyzstan in early April almost plunged that country into turmoil, crisis and lawlessness. This was a serious test for the Kazakh chairmanship and for the entire OSCE.”

He adds that the OSCE’s quick response demonstrated its relevance and effectiveness. “The international community, with the OSCE playing a major role, applied political action tools to resolve the crisis in a timely way,” he says. “The joint efforts of presidents Nursultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan, Barack Obama of the U.S. and Dmitri Medvedev of Russia prevented the escalation of violence and averted a civil war. As a result, the situation in Kyrgyzstan is expected to return to a legal framework, with public order and rule of law being gradually restored.”
Saudabayev says the OSCE is determined to continue to assist Kyrgyzstan in recovering from the crisis. He notes that the organization’s reserve fund has already allocated 200,000 euros ($246,000) to help the country maintain public order and safety, and strengthen the rule of law and democracy. Kazakhstan is also providing humanitarian and economic assistance to the neighboring nation on a bilateral basis.

Saudabayev says the recent events also demonstrate that the responsibility for the region’s stable development does not lie with an individual state or organization. “Instability of one state,” he says, “throwing it on the margins of civilized development, creates a fertile ground for extremism, organized crime and drug trafficking, thereby translating into security threats far beyond the area.” He notes that closer cooperation and mutual understanding was needed among the region’s countries and the relevant international institutions such as the OSCE.
Kazakhstan is the first former Soviet republic and the first Asian country to chair the OSCE, a task President Nazarbayev has declared to be a national strategic project.

Says Saudabayev: “According to the assessments of our numerous international partners, the last five months have proved that Kazakhstan serves as the chairman of this organization quite effectively.”

Afghanistan, described by Saudabayev as a “gaping wound on the world map,” has also been a priority for the Kazakh chairmanship. “We have placed particular emphasis on the stabilization of Afghanistan,” he says. “Much attention is paid to the economic dimension, and in this connection we are working on reducing trade barriers.”

Human rights are another priority, says Saudabayev, both in daily concerns and in terms of organizing major events. “Kazakhstan is also committed to holding an OSCE summit later this year in Astana, the country’s capital,” he says, adding that most member countries have expressed support for the idea. He expects an informal meeting of OSCE foreign ministers in Almaty in July to set the timing and agenda for the proposed summit.
Saudabayev says that dramatic changes in the world, such as the rise in international terrorism and the need to strengthen Europe’s security architecture, make a summit especially relevant, as does the continuing global economic crisis. The last OSCE summit was held in Istanbul 11 years ago.

He says the recent political crisis in Kyrgyzstan also “demonstrated the acute need for an effective mechanism of conflict prevention and early resolution, and it is the OSCE that is designed to perform the task.”

Saudabayev says the summit, which is a key initiative of President Nazarbayev, would also be an opportunity to revive the spirit of the Helsinki Accord under the new conditions. “The OSCE’s effective adaptation to the complicated conditions of the 21st century is necessary today,” he says. “Born in the Cold War, the OSCE must reach a new level of development. It needs to improve its effectiveness as a structure that provides a full range of modern security in Europe and Eurasia. There is an urgent need for a detailed collective analysis of what is happening within the OSCE.”

Possible topics and themes to be discussed, he says, include the high-level confirmation of previous commitments in the framework of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe and the OSCE; the future of Euro-Atlantic and Eurasian security, including the Corfu process (a comprehensive dialogue on contemporary challenges and future European security architecture); and a draft treaty on European security, setting objectives in arms control and military confidence-building measures.

Saudabayev says other major themes for the summit could include ways of meeting new threats and challenges and tackling the security situation in Central Asia, particularly in Kyrgyzstan and Afghanistan, and promoting intercultural tolerance, a topic that has been the centerpiece of Kazakh foreign policy.