Dariga Nazarbayeva meets with OSCE Chairman-in-Office
Dariga Nazarbayeva congratulated Slovakia on the beginning of the OSCE chairmanship and emphasized that Kazakhstan supports the priorities of the Slovak mission being conducted in a challenging international situation.
"Conflict prevention, preventive diplomacy, multilateralism - these priorities of your chairmanship absolutely correlate with the foreign policy course that Kazakhstan has been following since it gained independence," said the Senate Speaker.
During the talks, much attention was given to the enhancement of the OSCE's peacekeeping capacity. Miroslav Lajčák told about the efforts the Organization made for the easing of tensions and the development of the negotiation process in the armed conflict zones. Dariga Nazarbayeva expressed concern over the situation in Afghanistan and called on the OSCE to keep an eye on the region.
Mr. Lajčák highly appreciated Kazakhstan's role in world politics. The OSCE Chairman-in-Office said that Kazakhstan is a key state in Central Asia, the country well aware of the OSCE's priorities. He underscored that the only Summit of the Organization in the 21st century took place in Kazakhstan and that the Astana Declaration adopted at the Summit continues to be relevant up to the present day.
He also highlighted the key role of negotiations hosted by the capital of Kazakhstan to resolve the situation in Syria.
In turn, the Senate Speaker brought out the opinion that it is necessary to continue joint efforts for the implementation of the Astana Declaration, in which the participants entered into an engagement to work at establishing a Euro-Atlantic and Eurasian community of unified and indivisible security. According to her, it is necessary to accomplish the adoption of the Astana Declaration Action Plan as was previously agreed.
The sides discussed prospects for strengthening the parliamentary dimension of the OSCE. According to Dariga Nazarbayeva, the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, in which the Kazakhstan delegation is always proactive, is an essential platform for strengthening dialogue and restoring confidence between its participants.
The Senate Speaker also dwelled on the initiatives launched last year by the First President of Kazakhstan - the Leader of the Nation, Nursultan Nazarbayev, to hold the International Conference on Security and Cooperation in 2020 timed to coincide with the 45th Anniversary of the 1975 Helsinki Final Act, and to organize a joint meeting of the secretariats of the OSCE, the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) and the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Regional Security Forum. According to Dariga Nazarbayeva, the execution of the above initiatives, which meet the priorities of Slovakia's Chairmanship, can propel the OSCE to the next level.