Kazakhstan could serve as model for formation of effective state – permanent OIC rep

    By B. Batyrshayev
    In his speeches President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev reiterated Kazakhstan’s wish to expand cooperation with the Islamic world.
    In his address to the nation titled, Accelerated Economic Modernization as a Main Route for the Development of Kazakhstan, the president noted the country should properly complete its chairmanship over the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).
    In an interview with a Kazinform correspondent, Kazakhstan’s Permanent Representative to the OIC Bakhyt Batyrshayev talked about the international organization and work that has been done as chair.
    “Kazakhstan’s chairmanship in the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the second largest international organization after the UN, is an outstanding achievement for our foreign policy. In 1995 when Kazakhstan joined the OIC (then the Organization of Islamic Conference) one could hardly imagine that 16 years later we would chair it. This is a reflection of the fact that over the period of independence under the supervision of President Nazarbayev, Kazakhstan has proved to be a successful and respected country. Kazakhstan has already chaired the OSCE, SCO, CSTO and CIS.
    “The Organization of Islamic Cooperation established back in 1969 today numbers 57 countries which are united by the idea of Islamic solidarity and global Muslim community. The OIC network allows the organization to do a tremendous work in various fields: politics and economy, education and culture, healthcare and environment,” he noted.
    “Kazakhstan is attracted to the OIC because of few things. Through its chairmanship we can promote our strategic interests in the Islamic world. The OIC consists of 57 Arab, Asian and African countries, and that means they are our partners in the international policy and implementation of various initiatives suggested by Kazakhstan, development of economic and cultural dialogue. The OIC member countries are our neighbors: Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Iran, Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. Before Kazakhstan took over the OIC chairmanship its member countries had a vague notion of modern Kazakhstan. 57 OIC foreign ministers brought together by the 38^th conference in Astana in June 2011 were surprised to see a dynamically developing country. All OIC members unanimously acknowledge Kazakhstan as a model of effective state formation,” Kazinform wrote.