Overview
January 1992 – Kazakhstan joins the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).
1994 – the President of Kazakhstan participated in the historic Summit of the Organisation in Budapest, where it was decided to rename the CSCE to the OSCE.
1995 – the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Kazakhstan to the OSCE (Vienna) and the OSCE Regional Office for Central Asia (Tashkent) were opened.
1999 – Inauguration of the OSCE Centre in Almaty.
21 June 2007 – by decision of the OSCE Permanent Council, the name of the Centre was changed to the OSCE Centre in Astana (in connection with the change of location).
December 2007 – Kazakhstan was elected OSCE Chairmanship-in-Office for 2010 by the OSCE Ministerial Council in Madrid.
2010 – Kazakhstan’s OSCE Chairpersonship-in-Office.
16-17 July 2010 – Informal Meeting of the OSCE Ministerial Council in Almaty, decision to hold the Summit in the Republic of Kazakhstan.
December 1st – 2nd, 2010 – the OSCE Summit in Astana, under the chairpersonship of President Nazarbayev.
September-December 2011 – Chairpersonship of the Republic of Kazakhstan in the Forum for Security Cooperation (FSC). Till April 2012 – participation in the FSC Troika.
December 2011 – completion of the implementation of the State Programme “The Way to Europe” and the activities of the Republic of Kazakhstan as a member of the OSCE Troika.
December 4th, 2020 – by decision of the Ministerial Council, Ambassador Kairat Abdrakhmanov was appointed the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities.
April 1st, 2021 – the post of Head of the OSCE Programme Office in Astana is taken over by Dr. Volker Frobarth (previously held by Hungarian Ambassador György Szabó from 2016 till 2021).
July 2021 – in a vote to elect new officers of the OSCE PA, Askar Shakirov, Vice-President of the Senate of the Parliament of Kazakhstan, was elected as Vice-President of the OSCE PA. On August 23rd, 2021, Mr. Shakirov was also appointed Special Representative for the Implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (his mandate ended in June 2023).
Kazakhstan’s partnership with the OSCE takes place in the Organisation’s all three dimensions – politico-military; economic and environmental; and human – and is conducted in co-operation with both the OSCE’s central institutions (Secretariat, HCNM, ODIHR, Office of the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media) and its field missions, including the OSCE Programme Office in Astana.
As part of its interaction with the OSCE, Kazakhstan actively participated in the work of the Organisation’s Troika in 2009-2011. Implementation of the spirit and provisions of the Astana Declaration “Towards a Security Community”, adopted at the end of the OSCE Summit in Astana on December 1st – 2nd 2010, remains a top priority.
Since the year of its OSCE Chairpersonship (2010) and later on, Kazakhstan has consistently been focusing on a balanced approach in all three dimensions of the Organisation.
The main task of the Kazakh Chairpersonship was to strengthen the Organization in every possible way, thereby contributing to its effectiveness and ability to respond adequately to contemporary challenges and threats.
The OSCE Summit in Astana was a major political breakthrough with the adoption of the Astana Declaration, which outlined the vision of a common and indivisible Euro-Atlantic and Eurasian security community.
In the politico-military dimension, Kazakhstan continues supporting multilateral efforts to ensure Euro-Atlantic and Eurasian security and to strengthen confidence-building measures. Special attention is being paid to strengthening the OSCE’s engagement in Afghanistan.
An important priority for Kazakhstan in the OSCE economic and environmental track remains the development of connectivity and transcontinental transport corridors linking Asia and Europe, sustainable development, the fight against corruption, good governance, the green economy and smart cities. This work is being conducted on harnessing the OSCE’s potential in the field of environmental protection, including the issue of effective water management in Central Asia.
Kazakhstan chaired the Economic and Environmental Committee for the period 2017-2019. In June 2017, the Second Preparatory Meeting for the EEF was held in Astana on the EXPO 2017 side-lines. The results of the discussions during the meeting in Astana and the Concluding Meeting in Prague contributed to the adoption of the Ministerial Council Decision on “Promoting Economic Participation in the OSCE Region” and the adoption of the Joint Declaration of the Austrian and Kazakh EEC Chairpersonships on Greening the Economy and Promoting Environmental Co-operation.
In the human dimension, issues such as the fight against all forms of intolerance and discrimination, the protection of human rights, the rule of law, the independence of the judiciary, the promotion of gender equality and the fight against trafficking in human beings remain important for Kazakhstan.
Representative of Kazakhstan to the OSCE
Kazakhstan contributes to the preparation and adoption of the OSCE decisions through the secondment of Kazakhstan’s representatives to the Organisation’s institutions (June 2009 – the first secondment to the OSCE Secretariat (Ruslan Urazalin); November 2009 – the first secondment to the OSCE/ODIHR (Timur Sultangozhin)).
Since December 4th, 2022, Ambassador Kairat Abdrakhmanov has been appointed the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities. Mr. Abdrakhmanov is the first representative of a CIS country to be appointed to a senior position in the history of the OSCE.
On July 6th, 2021, Vice-President of the Senate of Kazakhstan’s Parliament Mr. Askar Shakirov was elected Vice-President of the OSCE PA in a vote to elect new OSCE PA officials (mandate completed in June 2023). On August 23rd, 2021, Mr. Shakirov was also appointed Special Representative for the Implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals.