Kazakhstan, OSCE and the New Opportunities A Cambridge Central Asia Forum Round Table

Introduction

From January 2010 the Republic of Kazakhstan has taken up the Chairmanship of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). Kazakhstan is the first Muslim and Asian country to Chair OSCE with the stated the aim of bridging the divide between the East and the West.

Currently the dialogue on what new progress can be made is much centred around security mechanisms, Afghanistan and other security related issues. Which are all very important, however there are certain more critical and unique opportunities which the Kazakh chairmanship and experience can enable.

Purpose

The purpose of the current meeting is to give proposals to Kazakhstani and the OSCE decision makers in order to broaden the security dialogue to more pressing aspects of The Human Dimension. Cambridge meeting will focus on prospects of an OSCE all country resolution on Disaster Response and nucleation of a coordinating council and a fund for rapid response to natural and human calamity situations. Such response in modern day requires coordination between Political, Civil, Military and Financial Institutions and as we have seen with Earthquakes (e.g. Haiti), Floods, Volcanic activity and other recent events that there are severe discrepancies in agility and timeliness of response.

This is in stark contrast to when it comes to military activity. It is not satisfactory that our institutions are much more prepared to take life than to save it. Indeed this framing is simplistic, but it forcefully highlights a call for debate and discussion, which can form the basis for a proposal which could be put forward to the OSCE Heads of State. Kazakhstan is well experienced in multilateral diplomacy and its participation in Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and Collective Security Treaty Organisation together with OSCE also gives it a unique position and insight, thus OSCE needs to capitalise on this unique opportunity.

This is the dialogue we would like to start on the 19th of February and indeed the discussion will be broader than the proposal suggested above and any new ideas regarding policy and development in the OSCE arena would be most welcome.

We hope that you can join the discussion.

Round Table Plan and Venue

On 19th of February we expect the meeting to start with a light lunch at 1:00 PM at Upper Hall, Jesus College, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB5 8BL. The panel is to run from 2:00 PM - 4:30 PM.

RSVP and to Book a Place: Contact Prajakti Kalra, pk315@cam.ac.uk by 16th of Feburary 2010.

Confirmed Panelists:

HE Kairat Abusseitov
Ambassador of Kazakhstan

Prof Robert Mair, FRS
The Master of Jesus College,
Cambridge

Prof James Jackson, FRS
Head of Department of Earth
Science, University
Of Cambridge

Prof Charles Melville
Professor of Persian History,
University Of Cambridge

Dr. Rick Fawn
University of St Andrews

Prof Shailaja Fennell
Development Studies, University
Of Cambridge

Mr Chokan Laumulin
Cambridge Central Asia Forum
And Kazakhstan

Dr Heather Cruickshank
Sustainable Development
Programme, University
Of Cambridge

Mr Robin Seaword
The Conflict and International
Studies Centre

Chair:

Prof Siddharth Saxena
Cambridge Central Asia Forum,
Jesus College, University of
Cambridge