OSCE helps Kazakhstan to secure surplus small arms, light weapons and conventional ammunition

ALMATY, 3 June 2005 - International experts and Kazakhstani officials worked out a set of recommendations on secure storage and destruction of small arms and light weapons and conventional ammunition for Kazakhstan's government during a two-day OSCE workshop in Almaty, that ended on Friday.

According to official estimates, Kazakhstan has a surplus of 30,000 of small arms and light weapons and 1.2 millions of ammunition left from Soviet times. Storage and destruction of these involves significant financial and social difficulties.

In December 2004, Kazakhstan's government officially requested the OSCE to assist with this process within the framework of the OSCE Document on Small Arms and Light Weapons of 2000 and the OSCE Document on Stockpiles of Conventional Ammunition of 2003.

Following this request, the OSCE Conflict Prevention Centre in Vienna and the OSCE Centre in Almaty organized a meeting for representatives of Kazakhstan's agencies and leading international experts from OSCE participating States and NATO.

"Assistance in destruction and storage of these significant stockpiles of ammunition is a long-term investment into stability and security," said Ambassador Ivar Vikki, Head of the OSCE Centre in Almaty.

During the seminar, representatives of Kazakhstan's ministries of defence, interior, emergency, as well as of the Committee on National Security shared their needs and the country's latest data on small arms and light weapons and conventional ammunition.

Following the workshop, OSCE experts and their Kazakhstani colleagues will visit and assess several stockpile centres of small arms and light weapons and conventional ammunition in various regions of the country.