Astana, 3rd June: “Kazakhstan should share its experience of solving problems regarding multilingualism and representation of ethnic minorities with other OSCE member states” said Knut Vollebaek, OSCE High Commissioner for National Minorities on the occasion of his visit to Kazakhstan last week.

He added that “all 56 OSCE member-states, including the Vatican, are polyethnic, multinational states… Kazakhstan’s experience in social integration and the mechanisms that the country is using to achieve its goal [of complete inter-ethnic accord] are of great significance for ensuring stability.”

The OSCE High Commissioner was visiting Kazakhstan ahead of its chairmanship of the OSCE in 2010. He attended a seminar on integration that took place at the Kazakh Foreign Ministry in Astana.

Mr Vollebaek emphasized that during the meeting with Kazakhstan’s Foreign Minister, Marat Tazhin, he had an excellent opportunity to discuss ideas and thoughts concerning priorities that Kazakhstan is setting fourth during its chairmanship of the OSCE.

OSCE representatives are studying the experience of the Assembly of People of Kazakhstan - an entity that has the right to delegate its representative to the country’s Parliament.

The Assembly of People of Kazakhstan was created by a presidential decree in March 1995. It consists of representatives of government bodies, national, cultural and other social associations, opinion leaders, etc.

The Assembly’s goals are to promote interethnic and cross-confessional accord and stability in Kazakh society; to elaborate proposals on national policies facilitating development of friendly relations between representatives of ethnic groups ; to shape political traditions and the culture of citizens on the basis of civil and democratic norms - and to ensure that national interests of ethnic groups are taken into consideration by the State.