OSCE Centre helps Kazakhstan improve oil spill management

SOUTHAMPTON, United Kingdom, 21 October 2011 – Kazakhstani government officials and oil industry executives concluded a two-day study tour today in the British port city of Southampton to learn about contemporary approaches to oil spill preparedness and response. The tour was organized by the international oil industry’s Oil Spill Preparedness Regional Initiative (OSPRI) and the OSCE Centre in Astana in co-operation with the International Maritime Organization (IMO).

The study tour aimed to increase key Kazakhstani stakeholders’ awareness of and engagement in oil spill preparedness, response and co-operation in the Caspian Sea area, and also foster better co-ordination between them on the country’s National Oil Spill Contingency Plan. It also aimed to help Kazakhstan make more extensive use of the benefits provided by the main IMO conventions in this sphere.

The tour agenda included meetings with prominent experts from OSPRI, the International Tanker Owners Pollution Federation Limited Fund, the IMO, the International Oil Pollution Compensation Funds and other international bodies.

“International approaches to oil spill preparedness and response introduced during the study tour are relevant for Kazakhstan. It is now the country’s responsibility to develop principles and mechanisms for their implementation," said the Vice-Minister of Emergency Situations, Valeriy Petrov.

Ambassador Alexandre Keltchewsky, the Head of the OSCE Centre in Astana, expressed the hope that “the high-level delegation’s experience will lead its members to recommend improvements to the national institutional and legal frameworks, which in turn will help strengthen environmental security in Kazakhstan’s vulnerable Caspian Sea region.”

The study tour was part of the Centre’s long-term efforts to promote and enhance Kazakhstan’s environmental security.