Overcoming the current crisis of confidence is crucial to tackling new threats to security, OSCE Chairperson tells U.S. Helsinki Commission

WASHINGTON, 2 February 2010 - It is crucial to overcome the current crisis of confidence between states to tackle new challenges and threats to security, the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Kazakhstan's Secretary of State and Foreign Minister, Kanat Saudabayev, said today to the U.S. Helsinki Commission.

"We remember well and we value the fact that the Helsinki Commission was among the first in the US to support our candidacy [to chair the OSCE] and I trust that we share an interest in further strengthening our common Organization in the name of security and co-operation from Vancouver to Vladivostok," the Chairperson-in-Office said.

The Helsinki Commission - formally known as the Commission on Security and Co-operation in Europe - is an independent U.S. government body responsible for monitoring and encouraging compliance with the Helsinki Final Act and other OSCE commitments.

"We understand that to a large extent the implementation of our priorities will depend on our ability to overcome the crisis of confidence that stems from the remaining Cold War dividing lines and principles," Saudabayev said, mentioning the current work done within the framework of the "Corfu process", a renewed dialogue on security which aims to reconfirm the common achievements of the OSCE community and to renovate the mechanisms to deal with traditional and new challenges.

Minister Saudabayev outlined the Kazakh Chairmanship's priorities of combating intolerance and trafficking in human beings, notably in children; promoting adequate management at border checkpoints and developing safe and efficient ground transportation; as well as of tackling the problem of the Aral Sea, a Central Asian environmental catastrophe which has had a proven negative impact on European states.

"Given that intolerance remains a problem in the OSCE area, we intend to make the best use of the OSCE's potential to foster dialogue among religions, cultures, and civilizations, and to overcome religious intolerance, racism, xenophobia, and anti-Semitism. Having a very positive experience in guaranteeing interethnic and inter-confessional peace in our own country, we intend to make the issues of tolerance and intercultural dialogue in the OSCE area a top priority of our Chairmanship."

"As Chairmanship, Kazakhstan considers the human dimension of the OSCE an indispensable and critical part of our work in 2010. A most important event during our Chairmanship therefore will be the annual human rights implementation meeting in Warsaw," the Minister said.

Kazakhstan intends to attribute special importance to fundamental values, such as freedom of religion, freedom of the media, the rule of law, and the strengthening of the independence of the judiciary, he explained. "We will be advancing these processes, in the first place in our own country, as building a democracy has been the conscientious choice of our people."

Looking ahead, Minister Saudabayev informed the Commission on plans for enhanced engagement with Afghanistan, an OSCE Asian Partner for Co-operation. "Kazakhstan will continue the active work already done by the OSCE to improve the management of the borders between Central Asian countries and Afghanistan. Such an activity aims at fostering the development of trans-border cooperation and strengthening the potential of Afghanistan's border and police forces," Saudabyaev said.

"Afghanistan occupies a special place in the program of our Chairmanship. It is clear that the Afghan authorities should begin solving the problems of their country on their own. However, they also need the strong support of the world community," Saudabayev added. "The time has come for a major expansion of the human dimension of our common efforts in Afghanistan."

Minister Saudabayev emphasized the importance for the OSCE of organizing a Summit this year, which would be the first since 1999, when OSCE heads of state and government gathered in Istanbul. Saudabayev emphasized that an OSCE Summit could reconfirm the validity of the Helsinki Final Act, the Paris Charter and other key pillars of the OSCE acquis, in connection with a set of forthcoming anniversaries: 35th of Helsinki Final Act, 20th of the Copenhagen Document, and 20th of the Paris Charter.

Minister Saudabayev emphasized that the Chairmanship has put the Organization's efforts to resolve protracted conflicts in Moldova, Georgia and Nagorno-Karabakh at the top of its agenda for 2010. The Chairperson-in-Office will be visiting Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Georgia in mid-February.

While in Washington, DC, Saudabayev is scheduled to meet Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Secretary of Energy Steven Chu, National Security Advisor General James Jones, and the US Special Representative for Pakistan and Afghanistan Richard Holbrooke.

The Chairperson-in-Office will address the UN Security Council in New York on 5 February.