Lukashenko Arrived at OSCE Summit in Astana

01.12.2010 11:33
Архив Редакция

President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko arrived in the Kazakh capital Astana on December 1 for the two-day Summit of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). Alexander Lukashenko welcomed the President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev. The Heads of States exchanged handshakes and participated in a joint photographing of the summit delegations.

Previous OSCE summit was held in Istanbul 11 years ago in 1999. The current summit will be attended by 38 heads of states and governments, a vice-president, seven vice-chairmen of governments, 14 ministers and other senior officials from the countries — the OSCE member states and partners. The summit will also be attended by representatives of international and regional organizations. In addition, the President of Afghanistan Hamid Karzai is expected to participate in the international forum as the Afghan problem is on the agenda of the summit in Astana, BelTA informs.

After the official welcoming ceremony and a joint photographing at Astana Palace of Independence, President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayevwith made a welcoming speech to the summit participants. His speech is followed by the address of the OSCE Chairman-Secretary of State Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan Kanat Saudabayev, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, the chairman of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly Petros Efthimiou and OSCE Secretary General Marc Perrin de Brichambaut.

Summit Participants to Discuss Responses to Transnational Hazard

Participants plan to discuss a wide range of issues during the summit, including the strengthening of pan-European regime for conventional arms control, confidence-building measures and security, responses to transnational threats, in particular, problems of confronting terrorism, proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, organized crime, human trafficking and drug trafficking.

President of Belarus is going to hold a series of bilateral meetings while at summit, and Alexander Lukashenko is speaking at the plenary session of the organization on December 2. The Belarusian leader intends to present the position of the Belarusian side in his speech, concerning the development and reform of the OSCE, improvement of the organization efficiency and strengthening its international authority.

Foreign Ministry Hopes the OSCE to Turn into a Full-Fledged International Organization

As reported by the Foreign Ministry of Belarus, the Belarusian side hopes that the summit will accelerate the clearance of the OSCE as a full-fledged international organization with its own Charter. «

«Particular attention is paid to the development of the OSCE activity in the field of economic development and environmental protection, including such important issues as energy security of countries and the region as a whole, providing the up-to-date level of efficiency of national economy and security of critical energy infrastructure,» the Minister noted.

The main issue on agenda of the summit will be the views exchange and adoption of general policy declaration to analyze the current situation in the OSCE region, as well as priorities for the future work of the organization.

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