OSCE co-organizes international conference marking anniversaries of the Helsinki Final Act and the Astana Commemorative Declaration

ASTANA, 23 October 2015 – New risks and challenges to the security architecture in the Euro-Atlantic and Eurasian space and implications for regional security were the focus of an OSCE-supported high-level international conference held today in Astana marking forty years of the Helsinki Final Act and the fifth anniversary of the Astana Commemorative Declaration.

The event, organized jointly by the OSCE Programme Office in Astana, Kazakhstan’s Foreign Ministry and Kazakhstan’s Presidential Institute for Strategic Studies, aimed at contributing to discussions among OSCE participating States on the Organization’s place in the modern security architecture and potential areas where its role could be strengthened to address 21st century security challenges. The conference’s sessions focused on the security architecture in the Euro-Atlantic and Eurasian space, new risks and challenges to regional security as well as rule of law and civil society development.

Erlan Idrissov, Foreign Minister of Kazakhstan, said: “Today’s discussion will allow us to present our views to OSCE participating States and again have a frank and productive discussion to explore how to improve the Organization. This will help us make sure that the potential is not wasted and used in the fullest way possible.”

Kassim Jomart-Tokayev, Chairman of the Parliament of the Senate of Kazakhstan, said: “We are marking 40 years after Helsinki and five years after Astana in promoting the indivisible security spirit of Astana that launched the Eurasian and European security community which gave a strong impetus to develop a consensus on security matters. Forty years ago, no one could have even imagined that international terrorism would become the cynical and destructive force that it is. This is an example of why the security community must make an effort to improve our co-operative activities.”

Ambassador Marcel Pesko, Director of the OSCE Conflict Prevention Centre, said: “Before the crisis in and around Ukraine the OSCE suffered from a lack of visibility and lack of understanding of the extent and range of activities it covered. Now the OSCE is in the spotlight and there is a greater appreciation of both the relevance and indispensability of the Organization. This also highlighted the negative impact that the lack of political will has on realizing the capacity of the OSCE.”

Ambassador Vuk Žugić, Chairperson of the Permanent Council stressed that the 2010 Astana Commemorative Declaration remains a significant point of reference for the vision of the Euro-Atlantic and Eurasian security community. He added that though the expectations of previous declarations were not fully met, OSCE participating States should use the OSCE as an open-ended platform for dialogue.

Some 150 high-level officials from Kazakhstan, representatives of the OSCE, diplomats, international and civil society organizations, national institutes of strategic studies, think tanks and academia, as well as international experts from France, Georgia, Germany, Kyrgyzstan, Serbia, Switzerland, Tajikistan, the United States and Uzbekistan participated in the event.

A delegation of nearly 15 permanent representatives to the OSCE from Vienna attended the conference in the framework of their visit to Kazakhstan.

The conference is part of the OSCE Programme Office’s activities in promoting dialogue and regional co-operation across all three dimensions in its comprehensive approach to security as well as engaging experts in finding creative solutions to address contemporary threats and challenges.

A summary containing the text of all presentations will be distributed by the organizers to participants for their further consideration.