Fourth Civil Forum of Kazakhstan started
The number of the Forum participants exceeds 700 people. The participants of the Forum include delegations from the regions and the cities of Almaty and Astana, regionally elected representatives of political parties, trade unions, media, international and foreign NGOs, central and local executive bodies.
The growing interest of the international community in Kazakhstan has led to high attention of European and Asian non-governmental organizations to the Fourth Civil Forum. 18 foreign NGOs from Austria, Canada, Israel, Lithuania, Poland, Hungary, India, China and Kyrgyzstan sent their welcoming words to participants of the Forum. These include cultural, educational and human rights association "Teena" (Jerusalem) and the Israeli Association for Children of Returnees, Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries and China Federation of Trade Unions of the International Cooperation Department, Public Chamber of the Kyrgyz Republic, Indonesian Center for Women's Studies "Sarodzni Naidu" under the Jamia Millia Islamia University and Indian NGO "Center for Research in the Field of Environmental Protection and Environmental Education", Associations of Friendship Cooperation "Poland-East".
Below are the welcoming notes and addresses of some international foreign non governmental organizations from India, Israel, Lithuania and Romania.
Eli Zarkhin, Chief Executive Officer, the Israeli Association for Immigrant Children (IAIC) in his address to participants of the IV Civil Forum says: "Improvement of the interaction process of the state and the institutions of the civil society is the most important part of formation and development of the modern democratic society. The Republic of Kazakhstan elaborated the Concept of the Civil Society Development, within the framework of which the country's citizens can really influence the processes conducted in the society. The idea of the Civil Forum allows NGOs to express their vision of the Concept and influence its implementation. The IAIC is the largest NGO of Israel, which is interested in expansion of international cooperation between Israel and Kazakhstan and will be glad to find partners for such cooperation. We wish success to the IV Civil Forum and will be pleased to continue cooperation with it.
Martinas Zaltauskas, Director of the Lithuania Non-Governmental Organizations; Information and Support Centre: "We are glad to confirm our historical and cultural commonalities of Kazakhstan and Lithuania and forthcoming chairmanship of our countries in the OSCE in 2010 and 2011 correspondingly. In order to develop the civil sector we need to maintain cooperation of international partners, exchange experience, knowledge and skills. Therefore we call the representatives of the non-governmental organizations of Kazakhstan for cooperation with the Lithuanian non-governmental organizations to establish an open, secure and balanced civil society in the world. I am also confident that the Civil Forum will contribute to development of certain recommendations and the whole civil society of Kazakhstan".
The Secretary General of the International Fund for Cooperation and Partnership of the Black Sea and Caspian Sea (BSCSIF) from Romania Zhyldyz Oskonbayeva:
"We do believe that this Forum offers a prosperity, consolidation and friendship between different civic leaders not just of the Republic of Kazakhstan, but also of entire region.
We would like to ensure you about our support and consideration, as long as we focus on creating a pool foe dialogue between key civic leaders across the wider Black Sea and Caspian Sea regions. The Civil Forum will represent a unique input into the tremendous achievements dedicated to cooperation and partnership between different organizations and entities of entire region and in search of common solutions. This upcoming event gives us an opportunity to bring to your attention our common aims, goals and hopes, as we are bridging civic leaders from eight countries of the Black Sea and Caspian Sea Regions.
Razia Sultan Ismail, Head of the Trans Asia Alliance, India writes "we welcome this significant contribution to the process of the international development and efforts of the Asian community as well as the process of creation of best living conditions for all nations living in Asia. We congratulate the Republic of Kazakhstan on the initiative to hold the Civil Forum which is an unprecedented and significant contribution to social development and education. We suppose that the experience of Kazakhstan offers plenty of models for both developed and developing countries. Being an international all-Asian organization which is devoted to promotion and construction of information exchange, collaborative learning and cooperation our Alliance highly appreciates and holds in an honor to be the participant of the IV Civil Forum in Kazakhstan and join the process of mending the dialogue between NGOs of Kazakhstan and other countries. Our Alliance highly appreciates the experience of the Civil Forum as an important possibility of receiving knowledge in topical issues of development based on justice and stability. We believe in knowledge and propose our experience and ideas".
