Kazakhstan’s progress in the Islamic world

ASTANA. October 26. KAZINFORM Many experts marked that the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM) session in Dushanbe in May was not an unimportant event: here, for the first time in OIC history, a Central Asian state picked up the presidency.This fact obviously speaks in favor of Central Asia and its special role in regional and global security.

To date the OIC has reconsidered the format of its activity, taking into account the fact of the presidency's transfer to one of the Central Asian countries, which are regarded as stable, successful and promising in terms of economic and political development. The OIC is gradually adapting to new realities, threats and challenges that the Islamic world is facing, and it is a hopeful sign, too. A reminder: The OIC, established in 1969, is aimed at Islamic solidarity in social, economic and political areas; fighting colonialism, neo-colonialism, racism and providing support to Palestine. The Islamic world should react to the challenges creating a new paradigm of safety, resting on principles of openness, mutual respect, understanding and tolerance. According to Kazakhstan's foreign minister, Kanat Saudabayev, it's high time to establish full-scale inter-institutional collaboration between the OIC and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). The topical issues of security and confidence-building measures were also a focus of discussions at the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia's (CICA) third summit in June, held in Istanbul - CICA was formed due to Kazakhstan's initiative, by the way.

The OIC CFM noted the decisive role of the OSCE chair-in-office in the settlement of the recent crisis in Kyrgyzstan. Kazakhstan is also sufficiently involved in the stabilization process in Afghanistan, both in a bilateral plan and as OSCE chair-in-office. All of the above once again confirms the increasing role of this country in the world community, according to analysts. Many specialists are sure that Kazakhstan's experience in the development of peaceful relations will be useful both for Islamic and Christian countries. In European states (including Russia) the Muslim population is steadily growing, that's why decreasing interethnic tensions will for a long time remain among the essential issues on the political agenda of states.

Taking into consideration the principle of Islamic solidarity, Kazakhstan's membership in this organization creates a good opportunity to put Kazakhstan's political initiatives into practice.

In 2011 Kazakhstan will assume office in the OIC CFM and Astana will host the CICA summit. And the 7th World Islamic Economic Forum in Kazakhstan is to expand the spectrum of economic relations with Islamic countries alongside Kazakhstan's presidency of the OIC CFM in 2011. This chairmanship and active sharing in OIC work provides Kazakhstan with another opportunity to influence the world agenda and settle international conflicts, to advance national interests, to gain invaluable experience and to train qualified employees in the school of multilateral diplomacy. The OIC also assists the state-participants in finding solutions to ecological problems. Notably, Kazakhstan, for the first time, was supported in finding solutions to the ecological challenges facing the regions surrounding Semey and Aral, Kazinform refers to Sinan Oğan ,Today's Zaman.

Sinan Oğan is the president of the Turkish Center for International Relations and Strategic Analysis (TÜRKSAM)

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