Responsibility needed in Kyrgyzstan's post-election period, OSCE Chairman says

PALERMO, Italy, 9 October 2010 - Tomorrow's parliamentary elections in Kyrgyzstan will be crucial for the country's future and difficult tasks await those elected, the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Kazakhstan's Foreign Minister and Secretary of State Kanat Saudabayev said at an OSCE Parliamentary Assembly meeting today.

Noting that the OSCE had already contributed significantly to restoring calm in Kyrgyzstan after the country's crisis earlier this year, Saudabayev said that much remained to be done in the country.

"I would like to urge once again the Kyrgyz authorities and all political forces of that country to ensure that the democratic will of the people is reflected to the full extent and to exercise responsibility and wisdom in the post-election period," he said in a speech delivered at a Conference on the fight against transnational organized crime and corruption, held as part of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly's fall meetings.

"The agenda for the new government includes the solution of existing problems and rebuilding what has been destroyed. I am talking not only about the settlements in the south of the country but also about the entire infrastructure of the government, as well as the rebuilding of social cohesion and trust between ethnic groups."

The situation in Kyrgyzstan will be discussed at the OSCE Summit, to be held 1-2 December in Astana, Saudabayev said. Other topics Kazakhstan's 2010 OSCE Chairmanship wants to include on the Summit agenda are the reaffirmation of OSCE commitments, the recommitment of OSCE participating States to an inclusive Euro-Atlantic and Eurasian security community, the redoubling of efforts to address challenges to human rights, fundamental freedoms, intolerance and discrimination throughout the OSCE area, and the intensification of collective efforts to combat new and emerging transnational threats, including those emanating from Afghanistan, he said.

"Afghanistan remains the largest supplier of drugs to our countries, thus creating conditions for the development of organized crime and generating regional instability," he said, adding that Kazakhstan's OSCE Chairmanship wanted the Summit to consider increasing the OSCE's contributions to international efforts in support of Afghanistan's post-war reconstruction.

At the Summit, OSCE participating States, drawing inspiration from the Helsinki Final Act, the Charter of Paris for a New Europe and other key CSCECSCE
Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe/OSCE documents that mark important anniversaries this year, could start a "process of consolidating a community of truly united and indivisible security in the Euro-Atlantic and Eurasian region based on shared values, principles and commitments," Saudabayev said. "The OSCE is and will be a key factor in solving the most important issues of security and co-operation in a vast Euro-Atlantic and Eurasia space."