Kazakhstan summit signals ‘rebirth’ of OSCE

THE publicity-hungry Central Asian state of Kazakhstan yesterday hosted the first summit of the OSCE in over a decade, seeking to revamp the organisation’s ability to react to security crises.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev acknowledged the OSCE needed to play a more dynamic role, but it remained unclear if the 56 member states could agree a strong action plan for its future.

“This summit is a sign of the rebirth of the organisation,” Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, who championed the holding of the meeting, said as he declared the summit open in Kazakhstan’s new capital Astana.