18 March
Kazakhstan participated in OSCE Troika- EU joint session
Kazinform
In Brussels Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan Marat Tazhin participated in a joint ministerial session of the OSCE Troika and European Union. “Issues of principal importance - conflict management in the South Caucasus, West Balkans and future European security were considered”, the Kazakh Minister said in a talk with journalists.
As far as the first problem concerned, “Kazakhstan spoke for achievement of a compromise and continuation of Geneva negotiations with the participation of all interested sides”, M. Tazhin said.
As for the second issue, Mr. Tazhin said “Kazakhstan stands for stable activity of the UN Mission in West Balkans” having noted its crucial role in the region.
While discussing the prospects of European security the Minister focused on Russia’s initiative on a so called European Security Treaty. “Kazakhstan had already supported this initiative in Helsinki”, M. Tazhin said. “There are objective factors making us raise this problem and Dmitry Medvedev’s proposal was sounded in this context. The second reason is that any problem connected with continental and transcontinental security is of paramount importance. Even if someone does not agree with certain aspects of approaches it does not mean we should reject it. And today Russia’s proposal has recieved a support from Greece, current chairman of the OSCE”.
Within the framework of a joint ministerial session of the OSCE Troika and the European Union Kazakh Minister of Foreign Affairs Marat Tazhin has met with EU High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy Javier Solana, Kazinform reports.
During the meeting the sides discussed the issue of entering into the agreement on the advanced new partnership between Kazakhstan and the EU. It was noted that despite the crisis of 2008, the volume of bilateral trade turnover reached USD 39.1 bln. “This shows that the European Union is the largest partner for our republic, for this reason the new agreement is very important”, M.Tazhin said to journalists.
Kazakhstan’s accession to the World Trade Organization became another topic of the discussion. The visa policy was also considered. “It is a complex and lengthy process, because the EU immigration and visapolicies are strict”, the Minister said.
M.Tazhin and J.Solana had a talk on Afghanistan. “His opinion on the Afghan issue is important for us, and he was interested in the Kazakh position, opinion and vision of the Kazakh President”, M.Tazhin said. Foreign Minister emphasized, that the views of the Kazakh President and the EU leadership coincide in some issues, solution to problems connected with security in Afganistan.
In this context, the Minister noted that within the framework of the SCO, a conference on Afghanistan will be held in Moscow at the end of March.
March 16
Russia to support Kazakhstan initiatives during its presidency in OSCE
Kazakhstan Today - Russia will support in every possible way the Kazakhstan initiatives during its presidency in the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). The Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, Sergey Lavrov, said on March, 14th in Moscow at the meeting with the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan, Marat Tazhin, the agency reports citing the press service of the Ministry Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan.
According to the press service, on March, 14th in Moscow during the working visit M. Tazhin held the meeting with his Russian counterpart S. Lavrov.
During the meeting Foreign Ministers considered the current condition and prospects of further development of both bilateral and multilateral cooperation between the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Russian Federation.
As for the forthcoming presidency of Kazakhstan in OSCE, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation stated that "Russia will support in every possible way the Kazakhstan initiatives of counterparts during its presidency in OSCE."
27 February
Kazakhstan chaired this year’s first meeting of the OSCE Mediterranean Partners Contact Group in Vienna. In addition to the 56 OSCE member-states - the Mediterranean Contact Group also includes Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Morocco and Tunisia. Interaction with the Mediterranean partners is an important component of OSCE operations; it is aimed at finding areas of shared interests and opportunities for coordinated activities aimed at ensuring security and counteracting challenges and threats. In his opening speech as chairman of the Group, Kairat Abdrakhmanov, Permanent Representative of Kazakhstan to the OSCE, said that interaction of European, Middle East, Maghreb and Central Asian states has deep roots in history. Participants welcomed the Kazakh chairman’s intention to organize an OSCE Seminar on Tolerance & Religious Freedom in Astana with the participation of all Mediterranean Partners. This event will take place on June 30th, 2009 – prior to the 3rd Congress of Leaders of World & Traditional Religions (July 1st/2nd). The Kazakh Permanent Representative spoke in detail about the history and results of the first two Congresses initiated by President Nazarbayev.
February 24
During the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly session held in Vienna (February 19-20), Kazakhstan outlined its preparations to chair the OSCE in 2010. Kassym-Zhomart Tokayev, the Kazakh Senate Chairman, said: “We are open for sincere and honest dialogue. We want to be a part of Europe. That is why we have prepared a special programme called the Path to Europe.”
In his speech Mr Tokayev touched upon priorities and goals of Kazakhstan’s OSCE chairmanship and conveyed details of the Path to Europe programme, initiated by the President of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev. Mr. Tokayev said that “expansion of political and economic cooperation, attraction of investments and technologies, improvement of the population’s quality of life are [the programme’s] main goals.”
The Senate Chairman spoke of the concrete steps being taken by Kazakhstan to liberalize its socio-political life, develop democratic institutes and improve national legislations taking into account European experience. Mr Tokayev informed the Assembly that the Kazakh parliament had amended the Election Law, the Law on Political Parties, the Media Law, as well as introduced legislation concerned with local self-government.
Mr Tokayev gave a detailed description of Kazakhstan’s activities to maintain interethnic and cross-confessional accord. “Kazakhstan is ready to share its experience.” He spoke specifically of Kazakhstan’s Congresses of World & Traditional Religions: “These forums are… internationally acknowledged and supported by leaders of main world religions and international organizations working to promote a dialogue among civilizations and cultures. The 3rd Congress will be held in Astana on July 1-2 – this time with participation and assistance from the UN. The theme of the forthcoming forum is the ‘Role of Religious Leaders in Building a World of Tolerance, Mutual Respect & Cooperation’.” Mr. Tokayev emphasized that Kazakhstan entered the Group of Friends of the Alliance of Civilizations initiated by the governments of Turkey and Spain. Following a proposal by the Kazakh President at last year’s General Assembly, the United Nations has announced that 2010 will be the International Year for the Rapprochement of Cultures.
“Improvement of OSCE efficiency in the architecture of European security is one of our primary goals” continued Mr Tokayev. “There is no doubt that regional security, the fight against international terrorism, extremism and illegal trafficking in narcotic substances, organized crime and trafficking in people are common goals shared by all OSCE member-states.”
Concluding his speech Mr. Tokayev affirmed that Kazakhstan has a wide experience of heading various regional organizations, such as the CIS, the SCO and CICMA: “Kazakhstan’s Chairmanship of the OSCE opens new opportunities for establishing constructive dialogue. Kazakhstan intends to strengthen the role of the Organization as that of a unique platform for dialog between Euro-Atlantic and Eurasian regions” he affirmed.
RELATIONS BETWEEN
THE REPUBLIC OF KAZAKHSTAN AND ORGANIZATION FOR SECURITY AND CO-OPERATION IN EUROPE
January, 1992 - the Republic of Kazakhstan joined the OSCE.
1995 – Permanent Mission of the Republic of Kazakhstan to the OSCE (Vienna) was established.
January, 1999 – OSCE Center in the Republic of Kazakhstan (Almaty) was opened.
April 3, 2004 – Ambassador I.Vikki (Norway) was appointed as a Head of the OSCE Center in Almaty.
21 June 2007 – By the decision of OSCE Permanent Council Center was renamed into OSCE Center in Astana.
From June 2008 – Ambassador A.Kelchevsky was appointed as Head of the OSCE Center in Astana.
The accession to the Organization reflects Kazakhstan’s aspiration to play more active role in European processes, in order to develop and to put into practice the principles stated in the Helsinki Final Act of 1975 and other OSCE documents.
Kazakhstan managed to achieve a high level of cooperation with the OSCE. At the initial stage a number of the OSCE seminars were held to observe an economic situation in Central Asia at the stage of transition to the market economy, implementation of economic reforms, regional security issues, human rights, etc.
Next step was the signing of Memorandum of Mutual Understanding between the Government of Kazakhstan and OSCE on the opening of the OSCE Center in Almaty as well as with ODIHR/OSCE (Oslo, December 1998). In February 2003 the additional Protocol has been signed. The Memorandum with ODIHR/OSCE provides tools to improve the institute of the Representative on Human Rights (Ombudsman), election legislation and judicial system.
Chronology
2007
January 22-23 – the Kazakh delegation comprising representatives of the Kazakh Delegation to the OSCE, the Environmental Ministry and the Kazakh environmental NGO participated in the OSCE Vienna Economic Forum “Key challenges to ensure environmental security and sustainable development in the OSCE area: Land degradation, soil contamination and water management”.
February 22-23 – Kazakh parliamentarian delegation headed by the Senate Speaker K.Tokayev participated in the winter session of the OSCE Parliamentarian Assembly in Vienna.
K.Tokayev made a report at the OSCE PA Permanent committee, where he noted Kazakhstan’s aspiration to make its own contribution to the further progress in the OSCE. The chiefs of the PA and of the national parliamentarian delegations unanimously supported Kazakhstan’s initiative to hold the 17-th session of the OSCE PA in 2008 in Kazakhstan, stressing that this decision will help to strengthen the inter-parliamentarian dialogue and cooperation as well as to broader engagement of Central Asia in achieving the OSCE vital goals.
April 10-11 – the OSCE Chairman-in-Office, the Minister of foreign affairs and cooperation of the Kingdom of Spain Miguel Angel Moratinos paid a visit to Kazakhstan. During the visit he met President of Kazakhstan N.Nazarbayev, Speakers of the Senate and the Mazhilis of the Parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan K.Tokayev and U.Muhamedzhanov, Premier-minister K.Masimov, Minister of foreign affairs M.Tazhin and Minister of defense D.Akhmetov. The negotiations dwelt on the cooperation between Kazakhstan and the OSCE and Spain, Kazakhstan’s bid to chair the OSCE in 2009 and the public and political situation in the state and in Central Asia on the whole.
May 16-18, 2007 – the Kazakh delegation comprising representatives of the CEC, the Ministry for culture and information, the National centre for human rights, the Ministry of Justice, the MFA and the Kazakh embassy in Poland took part in another ODIHR/OSCE annual seminar “Efficient participation and representation in democratic societies”.
The officials of the Kazakh delegation took the floor in three working sessions on the development of civil society and democratic institutions, on the maintenance of the rule of law, the freedom of speech and media, the freedom of religion, the rights of national minorities and the provision of equal rights for women. In particular, in the course of the first session the head of the Kazakh delegation – M.Sarsembayev, the CEC member – acquainted the participants of the forum with the Constitutional amendments set forth by the President N.Nazarbayev at the plenary session of the Chambers of the Kazakh Parliament.
Within the purview of the seminar the Kazakh delegation held side-talks with the ODIHR/OSCE management headed by Director K.Shtrohal.
May 23, 2007 – the Kazakh delegation constituted of the Deputy Minister of environmental protection A.Bralieyev, the Chairman of the agency for land resources management B.Ospanov and Kazakh diplomats in the Czech Republic participated in the XV OSCE Economic and environmental Forum in Prague “Key challenges to ensure environmental security and sustainable development in the OSCE area: Land degradation, soil contamination and water management”.
In the course of the Forum activities the Kazakh delegation suggested that the European and the Asian processes of sustainable development be united into one Eurasian process and the III World summit on sustainable development in 2012 be held in Kazakhstan.
June 22 - the Presiding Commissioner on human rights under the President of Kazakhstan S.Tursynov, CEC members and Ombudsman office visited OSCE headquarters in Warsaw.
July 25-27 - E.Ertysbayev, the minister of Culture and Information, took the floor on the OSCE permanent council meeting. In his speech Mr.Ertysbayev highlighted the aspects of reorganization in the sphere of informational provision and perfection of Mass media legislation. Also, the minister held meetings with OSCE General secretary M.P. de Brishanbeau, OSCE representative on the issue of mass media freedom M.Kharashti, and heads of delegations under OSCE.
September 10-12 - the Ambassadors of the Kingdom of Belgium (B.de Crombrugghe), Slovakia (P.Lizak) and Sweden (V.Bard-Bringeus) visited Astana and Almaty. The private talks were organized in the Senate of the Parliament, President’s Administration, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and CEC of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
October 9, 2007 – visit of the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities Mr. K.Vollebaek.
November 5-6 - K.Shtrohal, the director of the БДИПЧ/ОБСЕ, made a visit to Astana, during which he had meetings in the President’s Administration, Human Rights Commission, Supreme Court, CEC and MFA aimed at presenting the Final Report (published October 30, 2007) of the Human Rights mission concerning the parliamentary elections observance that took place on August 18, 2007, and discussing the ways of further cooperation based on the recommendations given in the report (so-called “follow-up”).
November 29-30, 2007 - The Kazakhstani delegation headed by Minister of foreign affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan M.Tazhin took part in the 15th regular session of OSCE in Madrid. One of the key issues on the agenda was the consensus attainment upon the Kazakhstan’s application for the presidency in the organization.As a result of the negotiations an agreement about Kazakhstan’s chairmanship in 2010 was achieved. At the same time any conditions, obvious or latent mechanisms of its execution delay were excluded.
In many respects the chairmanship decision is due to the acknowledgment of real progress of Kazakhstan in the democratic society and liberal market economy construction. The consensus of OSCE is based on the recognition of its participants that our state adheres to internal and external policies which in its turn provide political stability and accuracy in the course of foreign affairs. Such a decision might be definitely called as a historical and unprecedented one according to a raw of reasons. This is the first Turkish Asian state with predominant Muslim population to lead the organization. While, among the OSCE presidents, mostly the representatives of the Western Europe, the candidates for the EU membership, dominated. No one CIS country could have pretended to such a post before. In that way the determination proved the genuine equality between all the states-participants of the Organization.
On the whole, the status of the chairman of one of the most prestigious regional forums raises Kazakhstan to new level of perception in the modern world’s frame of reference. In the middle-term and long-term perspectives this will position Kazakhstan favorably within other international structures, and, first of all, UNO. As well as in bilateral relationship with USA, leading European and Asian countries.
2008
January 28-29 – Delegation of the Republic of Kazakhstan participated in the 1st part of the 16th OSCE Economic and ecological Forum in Vienna.
March 6-7 – 2nd preparing Conference for 16th OSCE Economic and ecological Forum took place in Ashgabad.
April 21-22 – Round table on the OSCE theme took place in Astana. Representatives of the OSCE Secretariat, Ministries of foreign affairs of the former OSCE Chairmen, leaders of the European research and educational centers were invited to participate in this event. Specific recommendations were developed based on the results of the round table meeting.
May 16 – Bilateral Kazakhstan-Russian negotiations at the level of the deputy ministers of foreign affairs on the OSCE theme took place in Astana.
June 1-2 – Delegation of the Republic of Kazakhstan headed by the Minister of foreign affairs M.Tazhin participated in the meeting of the heads of the Ministries of foreign affairs of “Quintet”, consisting of the current Troika (Spain, Finland, Greece), Kazakhstan and Lithuania.
June 29 – July 3 – 17th Annual session of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly in Astana. Over 500 delegates representing more than 50 states of Europe, Asia and America, as well as international and parliamentary organizations took part in the Annual session in Astana.
President of the Republic of Kazakhstan N.Nazarbayev, Chairman of the Senate of Parliament of Kazakhstan K.Tokayev and the Chairman of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly G.Lennmarker gave welcoming speeches at the opening of the plenary session.
Portugal representative Z.Soares and Chairman of the Senate of the Parliament of Kazakhstan K.Tokayev were appointed as Chairman and co-Chairman on the last working session.
Astana Declaration, which includes paragraphs related to transparency within the OSCE framework on political issues and matters of security, economy, science, technology, environment, democracy, human rights, human issues, further OSCE reforms and broadening the participation of the parliamentarians in the Organization’s work was adapted on the final plenary session.
29 September –- 10 October – annual ODIHR/OSCE Human Dimension Implementation Meeting took place in Warsaw. Representatives of the Government of Kazakhstan, members of the Senate of the Parliament, representatives of the Supreme Court, National Commission on women and family-demographic policy and Commission on Human Rights, presented official statements during the forum’s plenary session, and also participated in various discussions and roundtables, where they outlined and clarified the position of the government on certain aspects of human dimension.
15-16 October – Personal Representative of the Chairman-in-Office of the OSCE on Combating Intolerance and Discrimination against Muslims Ambassador O.Orhun paid an official visit to Astana. Within the framework of his visit O.Orhun met with the heads of the General Prosecutor’s Office, National Center on Human Rights, Ministry of Culture and Information, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Interior with the aim to prepare a report on the situation with Muslims in Kazakhstan.
4-5 December – 16th annual OSCE Ministerial Council meeting was held in Helsinki. The official delegation of the Republic of Kazakhstan, headed by the Minister of Foreign Affairs M.Tazhin, participated in it.
Within the framework of the Ministerial Council meeting, Minister held a number of meetings with the OSCE Secretary General M.P. de Brichambaut, heads of delegations of US, Cyprus, Georgia, Great Britain, Netherlands, Norway, Slovakia, Sweden and also with the President of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly J.Soares.
The main themes of the forum were the Organization’s reformation process, modern state and future of European Security, as well as August crisis in South Caucasus and its consequences.
