Boosting co-operation between key regional structures in Eurasia crucial for stability, economic prosperity, says OSCE Chairperson

ISTANBUL, 7 June 2010 - Speaking ahead of the Third Summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA), the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, State Secretary and Foreign Minister of Kazakhstan Kanat Saudabayev, said today that the OSCE and CICA should co-operate more intensively for regional security and prosperity.

"If we don't take urgent joint measures, a new wave of financial and economic crises can emerge. We think that the OSCE and CICA, as the largest regional alliances of Eurasia, should redouble their efforts to develop economic co-operation in the interest of all participating States," said Saudabayev at a special event focusing on security and economic co-operation in Eurasia in the 21st century that gathered ministerial level participants from the OSCE Asian, as well as Mediterranean Partners for Co-operation.

"Kazakhstan as the OSCE Chairmanship in 2010 will further step up efforts for strengthening the co-operation between the two structures and the two continents, to give it more substance via a permanent exchange of ideas and practical experience."

An area where co-operation between the two structures has a good potential could be the engagement with Afghanistan, said Saudabayev. "Today it is becoming clear that the problem of Afghanistan cannot be resolved only by military effort. Afghanistan's authorities need a firm support in the socio-economic rehabilitation and the democratic development of the country. It is natural that such support should emanate in the first place from the partners of Afghanistan in the OSCE and the CICA," he added.

The OSCE Secretary General Marc Perrin de Brichambaut, high level officials from the OSCE Troika - Greece, Kazakhstan and Lithuania, as well as the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly President Joao Soares participated in the event.

OSCE has 12 Mediterranean and Asian Partners for Co-operation. CICA was set up in 1992 at the initiative of Kazakhstan and currently unites 22 states.