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TO RUEHVEN/USMISSION USOSCE IMMEDIATE 0000
INFO RUEHTA/AMEMBASSY ASTANA 0000
UNCLAS STATE 003585
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV OSCE KPAO PHUM PREL KZ AF
SUBJECT: OSCE PERMANENT COUNCIL: RESPONSE TO KAZAKHSTANI
FOREIGN MINISTER SAUDABAYEV
1. (U) Post is authorized to present the following statement
at the January 14, 2010, Permanent Council meeting in Vienna.
Begin text:
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
The United States is pleased to welcome Foreign Minister
Saudabayev to the Permanent Council as the OSCE,s 2010
Chairman-in-Office. We are also pleased that President
Nazarbayev took the opportunity to address us this morning.
Both of these statements underscore Kazakhstan,s commitment
to the OSCE and to a strong and successful Chairmanship.
The challenges facing the OSCE and the international
community are real. Our strength comes from facing those
challenges collectively, with a common purpose and a common
determination to uphold the principles and commitments we
have all made as members of the OSCE. We look forward to
working with you to meet these challenges and achieve the
goal you spoke of, Mr. Foreign Minister, to modernize and
strengthen the OSCE, for the benefit of all participating
States. The United States also stands ready to encourage
your efforts to lead by example and reflect in practice the
principles and provisions of the organization you now chair.
We do indeed face a heavy workload this year based in part on
the challenges you cite, including continuing our positive
work in the Corfu Process, focusing particular attention on
Afghanistan, and addressing the expectation of our Ministers
in Athens that a decision to hold an OSCE summit must result
from measurable and substantial progress on priority issues
we face. In that respect, we applaud the Chair's commitment
to ensure balance in each of the OSCE,s three dimensions.
The United States has long made clear that the OSCE's work in
the Human Dimension is a signal priority and one where
implementation of commitments must be taken most seriously.
Kazakhstan has a critical opportunity here. In the past
several years, we have witnessed a stark increase in the
dangers faced by journalists throughout the OSCE area and a
shrinking space for independent, pluralistic media,
particularly in the broadcast realm. Elections that fail to
achieve transparency and reflect the will of the people have
also been a source of concern. Judiciaries too often serve as
a tool of the few rather than a safeguard for the rule of
law. Fundamental freedoms of assembly, association,
expression and religious belief are often denied to citizens
in the OSCE area, including via burdensome registration
requirements or selective application of laws. And too many
members of minority communities in too many parts of the OSCE
area * including the Roma * live in conditions that are
unacceptable in modern, enli
ghtened societies. For these reasons, among others, we
strongly support your remarks today reconfirming
Kazakhstan,s commitment to the Human Dimension and
reaffirming Kazakhstan,s support for the work of the Office
for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, the High
Commissioner on National Minorities, and the Representative
on Freedom of the Media. In this vein, we welcome your
emphasis on a constructive approach to election observation
and monitoring. We applaud the Office for Democratic
Institutions and Human Rights for its objective work which
continues to represent the best practices in election
monitoring and we commend the partnership between ODIHR and
the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly.
The United States also joins your call, Mr. Minister, for
continued dialogue on the future of European security and
agrees that the OSCE is the best forum in which to continue
these discussions. Your commitment to taking forward the
Corfu Process -- begun under the able leadership of the Greek
Chairmanship ) is essential to its success. The Russian
Federation,s proposals on European security architecture are
a contribution to those discussions and we look forward to
discussing them in that context. The OSCE is ideally situated
to address these issues given its comprehensive approach to
European security, which incorporates its economic, human and
political-military aspects.
We also share your hope for CFE in 2010 and affirm that the
United States remains firmly committed to finding a way
forward that addresses the concerns of all State Parties and
allows us to preserve the benefits of this landmark regime.
Unfortunately, for over two years, Russia has not implemented
the CFE Treaty while other parties continue to do so. We
urge Russia to look again at this issue and call upon all
State Parties to fulfill their CFE obligations fully. As we
said in Athens regarding the Vienna Document 1999, its
confidence and security building measures are being
implemented with a high degree of success. But there is room
for improvement and we look forward to discussing ways in the
FSC to make this instrument more effective. We also look
forward to working with other States Parties to ensure that
the Review Conference of the Open Skies Treaty, in Vienna
under U.S. chairmanship in June, will be a success.
Likewise, we fully support your focus on the protracted
conflicts in the OSCE region. We believe the OSCE has a
meaningful role to play in stability within and along
Georgia,s internationally recognized borders. To that end we
remain committed to the re-establishment of an OSCE presence
there that respects Georgia,s territorial integrity and
sovereignty. We also believe that the OSCE can continue to
play a valuable role in efforts to resolve the Transnistria
and Nagorno-Karabakh conflicts. We look forward to your
leadership in resolving these long-standing issues and are
pleased that one of your first official visits next month as
Chairman-in-Office will be to the South Caucasus. We also
look forward to your visit to Washington next month.
The United States also strongly supports your expressed
focus, Mr. Minister, on seeking new ways to include
Afghanistan within the work of the OSCE. That starts with
enhanced bilateral efforts and we welcome Kazakhstan,s
generous allocation of 50 million dollars, in the face of
pressing international financial circumstances, to fund
scholarships for a thousand Afghan students in Kazakhstan.
We look forward to working with you and with the rest of our
OSCE colleagues in implementing projects designed to
strengthen Afghanistan,s Central Asian borders and to curb
violent extremism, radicalization and narcotics trafficking
in the region. We remain convinced that the most efficient
and effective way to accomplish these goals is for the OSCE
to operate directly in Afghanistan, and we hope to see that
become a reality under your Chairmanship.
In the second dimension, promoting good governance at border
crossings and facilitating trade is important to spur needed
economic growth and job creation. Discussions on
transportation and migration, as well as on the lessons
learned from addressing environmental problems linked to the
Aral Sea, are valuable opportunities to draw upon
Kazakhstan,s role in Central Asia.
Mr. Chairman, the enthusiasm of every member of your team --
in both Astana and Vienna -- has not gone unnoticed and bodes
well for us all. This is exemplified in the cooperation that
for the first time in recent memory led to our having a
budget at the start of a new Chairmanship, a feat due in no
small part to Kazakhstan,s leadership.
We wish you, Minister Saudabayev, and your Mission here the
greatest of success in the months ahead. The United States
looks forward to supporting Kazakhstan's chairmanship of the
OSCE.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
END TEXT
CLINTON