Informal Meeting of OSCE Foreign Ministers on 16-17 July
An informal meeting of OSCE Ministers, hosted by the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Kazakhstan's State Secretary and Foreign Minister Kanat Saudabayev, will be held on 16 and 17 July near Almaty.
Insight Paper for the Informal Meeting of OSCE Foreign Ministers
One of the major events to be held under the government of Kazakhstan’s chairmanship of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), an informal meeting of the OSCE foreign ministers, is going to take place at the Ak-Bulak resort near Almaty on 16-17 July 2010. Representatives of all 56 member countries, cooperating partner countries and international organizations will be participating in the forum. The total number of participants is expected to comprise approximately 400 delegates, including 50 high level representatives of the highest foreign policy authorities and their deputies.
Issues concerning security in Europe and Eurasia, the role of the OSCE in strengthening it, as well as the agenda for the planned OSCE summit will be discussed during the informal meeting.
The meeting will open with an address by President Nursultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan and OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Kanat Saudabayev, Secretary of State and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan, and Marc Perrin de Brichambaut, Secretary General of the OSCE.
A series of events will be discussed during the informal meeting with the aim of examining comprehensive issues regarding European security in accordance with the Corfu Process. Current cooperation issues falling under the responsibility of the OSCE are also expected to be reviewed.
In accordance with working practice, the annual schedule of the OSCE and the meeting of the OSCE ‘Troika’ member states (Greece. Kazakhstan, and Lithuania - the past, present, and future chairing states) will be held with the participation of the OSCE Secretary General. The purpose of the session is to reach consensus on the position of the ‘Troika’ members regarding key and high-relevance issues on the OSCE agenda.
A meeting of the foreign ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia and of the co-chairmen of the OSCE Minsk group (Russia, US, France), with the participation of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, is scheduled for 17 July to discuss the further prospects of the peaceful settlement for the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
The same day and for the first time a special meeting initiated by the Kazakh OSCE Chairmanship will be held involving the heads and high representatives of the seven international organizations dealing with the security of the Euro-Atlantic and Eurasia. The purpose of the event, which involves OSCE, NATO, EU, Council of Europe, Commonwealth of Independent States, Collective Security Treaty, and the Conference for Interaction and Confidence-Building in Asia, is holding a discussion on the subject of current problems related to security with special regard to military-political aspects, transnational challenges and threats. Afghanistan and the situation in Kyrgyzstan will remain important topics for discussion throughout most meetings on July 16-17.
