OSCE Summit Proposes New Initiatives

    By Baurzhan Mukanov
    Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev opened the OSCE Summit by saying that after an eleven year hiatus, the return of high-level meetings signifies the organization’s revival. Nazarbayev said the OSCE requires substantive and structural changes to respond to contemporary challenges. He proposed creating a number of OSCE institutions, including a Security Institute.
    He proposed increasing the OSCE’s work on improving economic security. In addition, Nazarbayev said, it is important to continue to develop disarmament and non-proliferation agreements and to create a special OSCE forum to this end. Kazakhstan also proposed creating an OSCE ministerial council to co-ordinate the fight against transnational crime, narco-trafficking and illegal migration.
    OSCE Chairperson-in-Office and Kazakh Foreign Minister Kanat Saudabayev said, “Our (OSCE) presidency has given new impetus to the overall effort to revitalize and reinforce the arms-control regime and confidence-building measures. ... We have tried to strengthen co-operation in combating transnational challenges and threats, including those coming from outside – mainly from Afghanistan.”, according to Central Asia Online.