OSCE Centre supports meeting to promote public-private partnerships in Kyrgyzstan's fight against terrorism, extremism and radicalisation
ISSYK-KUL, 13 August 2009 - An OSCE-supported conference that seeks to formulate and promote the implementation of confidence-building measures to combat the causes and effects of terrorism nationwide began today at the Issyk-Kul Lake.
More than 100 participants including representatives from central and local government, the business and industrial sectors, civil society, religious faiths, the media and international and regional organizations are participating in the two-day round-table meeting.
The Conference draws on the "public-private partnership" (PPP) concept, initiated by the Action against Terrorism Unit of the OSCE Secretariat in Vienna.
The event, the third of its kind to be held in the Kyrgyz Republic, is hosted by the OSCE Centre in Bishkek, the Foreign Ministry and the State Committee on National Security. The first conference was held in Bishkek in November 2008 and the second in the southern city of Osh in April 2009.
"The main purpose of these round-table conferences is to discuss and consult how all parts of government and society, in the spirit of partnership, can work together to prevent terrorism, extremism and radicalization in order to mould a multi-dimensional strategy," said the Head of the OSCE Centre in Bishkek, Ambassador Andrew Tesoriere.
The OSCE will continue to support the authorities and other stakeholders as they implement the country's PPP strategy, and it will also support efforts to entrench the strategy in Kyrgyz life, Tesoriere added. He underlined that the strategy must take particular care to protect the human rights of individuals and interest groups.
"If we make this mistake, we feed radicalisation; we do not prevent it," he said.
The Deputy Head of the Foreign Ministry's Department for International Organizations, Tolon Turganbaev, added: "This conference plays a key role in effective counteraction efforts targeting the terrorism threat that has increased lately in the Kyrgyz Republic."