OSCE Secretary General pays official visit to Kazakhstan

ASTANA, 13 September 2012 – OSCE Secretary General Lamberto Zannier paid his first official visit to Kazakhstan today, meeting with Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbayev and top officials.

Zannier took part in a meeting of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures (CICA) in Astana yesterday.

During his visit, he met the Chairman of the Senate Kairat Mami and other members of Kazakhstan’s delegation to the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly. The Secretary General discussed OSCE-Kazakhstan co-operation with Foreign Minister Yerzhan Kazykhanov and Defence Minister Adilbek Dzhaksybekov. He also met representatives of civil society, diplomats and the staff of the OSCE Centre in Astana.

The Secretary General thanked Kazakhstan’s authorities and civil society for their fruitful co-operation with the OSCE and its institutions since January 1992 when independent Kazakhstan became an OSCE participating State, and in particular during the country’s 2010 OSCE Chairmanship. An OSCE Summit was held in December 2010, and OSCE Heads of State adopted the Astana Commemorative Declaration on Euro-Atlantic and Eurasian security community.

The Secretary General reaffirmed the OSCE’s commitment to further assist the country in fulfilling its strategic development programmes and democratic aspirations, including through the OSCE Centre in Astana.