Astana OSCE Summit to bring up new themes for international discussion - press review
Kazakhstankaya Pravda newspaper published an interview with Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary and France to Kazakhstan Jean-Charles Berthonnet on November 26.
"Kazakhstan is a state that inspires confidence thanks to its pragmatic foreign and internal policy and special attention to social stability and economic development for the benefit of many ethnic communities living together in your country. Such confidence in the viability of the course of Kazakhstan's development is a very important part of the climate of bilateral relations. This confidence is widely shared by the international community, and it is the reason of election of your country to chair the OSCE in 2010", the diplomat said.
On November 27 the same newspaper published an interview entitled "Eurasian component of the OSCE" with Kazakhstan's permanent representative to UNESCO, prominent public figure, poet and writer Olzhas Suleimenov. Answering the question on the need for reforming the OSCE he said that all its goals were reduced to one task - to monitor elections in an inviting state and evaluate whether their running was "European" enough.
"Kazakhstan has added Eurasian component to the traditional North-Atlantic dimension of security and cooperation. Europe and Asia are getting more interdependent. Europe's security depends on that in Asian states and vice versa. Kazakhstan was worth electing the OSCE's chair for expanding the world outlook, at least. Moreover, Eurasian component adds new connotations to the very notion of "security", O. Suleimenov noted.
According to him, the summit will satisfy many answers, since the assembly of such prominent persons is sure to bring up for international discussion new themes and new views on common themes.
In the article "Summit of great hopes" Strana i Mir newspaper points out that the issue of the need for reorganizing the OSCE was raised by Kazakhstan correctly, timely and clearly.
"Moreover, Kazakhstan has managed if not solve, then to lay a firm foundation for the solution of hot-buttoned issues. We have contributed to the strengthening of international security system through the focus shift in solving the Afghan problem to elimination of the military way. We have succeeded, if not in solving, then rounding off the rough corners in the so-called protracted conflicts, and, of course, it is impossible to overestimate the role of OSCE in coping with the consequences of the crisis situation in Kyrgyzstan", the edition reads.
Lithuanian Permanent Representative to the OSCE Renatas Norkus told journalists of Azerbaijani Trend Agency that Kazakhstan chaired the OSCE competently and professionally.
According to Norkus, the OSCE summit in Astana is an attribution of the success of the Kazakh government and Kazakh president. "We hope that this summit will meet our expectations that the organization will not merely exist, but rather become stronger," he said.
On its website German Deutsche Welle Media Company published a statement of the German government saying that Germany supports the EU's intention to develop economic cooperation with Kazakhstan. "This Central Asian state with rich energy resources and raw materials can play important role in economic development of the EU. Moreover, Kazakhstan is a key partner at the negotiations regarding the trade of the region with the European Union."
On November 25 Belarusian Information Agency BELTA published a statement of Belarus Foreign Ministry Press Secretary Andrei Savinykh who said that the OSCE Summit would accelerate the process of forming the OSCE as a full-fledged international organization with its own charter. "The main issue on the agenda will be the opinion exchange and adoption of general political declaration containing the analysis of the current situation in the OSCE area. The Belarusian side pays special attention to the development of the OSCE activities on economic development and environmental protection, including the issues of energy security, provision of modern level of energy efficiency of national economies."