Spindelegger welcomes OSCE summit 18-07-2010

Almaty/Vienna (APA) - The decision to hold an OSCE summit in the Kazakh capital Astana in late October underlines the importance of central Asia, said Foreign Minister Michael Spindelegger after foreign ministers' talks in Almaty.

He praised current OSCE chairman Kazakhstan as having put the connection between Transatlantic and Eurasian security in the foreground.

But Spindelegger was quick to add that the EU expected of Kazakhstan that it improve its own human rights situation, including freedom of opinion and basic democratic rights.

The EU considered it important that the summit dedicate itself to future OSCE crisis management, monitoring of disarmament, and shaping of OSCE human rights policies, said the foreign minister in a phone interview with the Austria Press Agency.

Earlier, Spindelegger said that in his view, the OSCE summit would be "a contribution to overcoming the present standstill between Russia and the NATO states" on conventional arms control. "We can't afford a new arms race - more transparency and trust will benefit us all."

He was "very satisfied" that the OSCE foreign ministers had agreed on the 56-nation organization's first summit in eleven years.

During his stay in Almaty - formerly the capital of Kazakhstan until 1997 - Spindelegger had meetings with the foreign ministers of Russia, Israel, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Ukraine.