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DE RUEHC #3585 0132343
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O R 132337Z JAN 10
FM SECSTATE WASHDC
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