Official Statements:

Statement

by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan

at the 11-th Summit of the Islamic Conference

13-14 March, 2008, Dakar, Republic of Senegal

Bissmillah-ir-Rahman-ir-Rahim!

Dear Mr. Chairman!

Dear Mr. Secretary-General!

Ladies and Gentlemen!

On behalf of the multiethnic people of Kazakhstan, it is a great honor to address the leaders of the world’s Muslim community, representing one-and-a-half billion population of 57 member states of the Organization of the Islamic Conference.

Since its independence, Kazakhstan is implementing a balanced foreign policy, aiming at strengthening of multilateral cooperation and based on the principle of collective responsibility of states in solving global problems.

Since its accession to the OIC in 1995, Kazakhstan is actively participating in the multifaceted activity of the Organization. We stand for strengthening of the OIC, as an effective and influential forum of the Muslim world. We also support the ongoing efforts in reforming and modernization of the Organization in line with humane principles of Islam as a religion of peace and progress. Kazakhstan welcomes the drafting of the new OIC Charter, which symbolizes confidence and integrity of the OIC, its focus on the future.

Kazakhstan, being a secular state, is an integral part of the great Muslim civilization. Our history, for over many centuries, has inalienably been connected with Islam, which is one of the inherent components of spiritual culture of the Kazakh people. It is commonly known, that ancestors of peoples of Central Asia significantly contributed to the development of Islamic ‘universum’ and to flourishing of philosophy and sciences. They were talented warriors, commanders and state men.

Just to mention the names of Yusuff Balasagun, Mahmoud Kashghari, Mohammed Khaidar Dulati, Hoja Ahmed Yassawi, and, finally, that of the prominent philosopher and scientist-encyclopedician, Abu Nasser al Farabi, without whose creative activity the classical culture of the Muslim East is unthinkable. We have not only absorbed Muslim traditions, but also ourselves were amongst active developers of the great civilization.

Dear Mr. Chairman,

The combined economic potential of the Muslim Ummah is impressive, however, its uneven distribution amongst Muslim countries indicates that implementation of genuinely effective mechanisms of economic cooperation, mutual assistance and facilitation of development, is a fundamental problem of modern Islamic community.

Under the current conditions of comprehensive globalization and intensification of the competitiveness, only through modernization of the economy, infrastructure and education and by comprehensively improving the Muslim countries’ competitiveness, we may speak about well-being, and, if you wish, the ability to survive in modern world.

In our view, this is where the Islamic solidarity must be shown, in the first place, as the key principle of our Organization, - in its carrying out efficient trade, investment, technological, social and other programs aiming to assist the countries that need help most.

We are aware of our own share of responsibility for sustainable and gradual development of the Central Asian region. Due to the rapid economic growth over the past centuries, Kazakhstan has become a middle-income country and is already providing the development assistance to brotherly countries.

We know that international community is more and more concerned with the problems of energy security. To ensure economic growth, long-term and sustainable energy resources’ deliveries are needed, which are only possible under conditions of constructive interaction between producing countries, consumers and transit networks.          However, in a number of hydrocarbons-rich regions, conflicts still arise and the formation of vast zones of instability takes place. In our view, the Islamic world itself has the potential to resolve these disputes, strengthen confidence and develop cooperation.

Kazakhstan plays an increasingly important role in the international energy market. Today, we are rated as world’s 7th largest country for oil reserves, the 6th – for gas deposits and the 2nd - for uranium reserves. In 2017, we plan to join the world’s top ten biggest producing countries and exporters of oil and gas, and are fully aware of our responsibility for ensuring the global energy balance.

Distinguished participants of the Summit!

Today, humanity has reached an understanding that integrity of the world is in its diversity. The multiethnic Kazakhstan, known to the world by its traditions of peace and tolerance, has become an excellent international platform for the dialogue of cultures and religions.

Despite pessimistic forecasts of the recent past, we look forward to the future of inter-civilizational relations with hope and optimism. The initiative of the Alliance of Civilizations is accelerating its pace and the dialogue between peoples, governments, religious and public affiliations is expanding at all levels.

Kazakhstan makes an adequate contribution to this noble deed. On our initiative, during the 62nd session of the General Assembly of the UN, the resolution has been adopted to proclaim the year 2010 as the ‘International Year of Rapprochement of Cultures’ under the UN auspices. We plan to hold the 3rd Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions in 2009 in Kazakhstan under the auspices of the UN.

Besides, with the aim of stepping up the political dialogue between Muslim and Western countries, overcoming vigilance and to strengthen mutual understanding, this October in Astana, we will be holding the International Forum “Common Peace: progress through diversity” at Foreign Ministers’ level. Substantial preparations for this event are in progress and we request all interested Muslim countries to assist us in these. The main objective of this Forum, for purposes of the common progress, is to provide practical support to that, which unites all of us. The Forum will also focus on overcoming false stereotypes and mutual alienation.

Dear Mr. Chairman,

The implementation of the initiative on convening the Conference of Interaction and Confidence Building Measures (CICA), first voiced from the UN podium in 1992, is Kazakhstan’s significant contribution into ensuring regional cooperation and security.

Over these years, the CICA process has proved its acuteness and its being in demand. The number of participants of the Forum is increasing. The CICA today unites 18 countries, population of which constitutes half of the population of the Earth. The Islamic world, in our view, is ready to play a key role in the development of constructive interaction in Asia. We are grateful to the OIC for its resolutions in support of the CICA. We call on the Muslim countries of Asia, which have not joined the Conference yet to become its full-fledged members.

Kazakhstan, having voluntarily rejected its possession of the 4th world’s powerful nuclear arsenal, considers nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament to be one of the most important problems of modern world.

16 years ago, by the Decree of Kazakhstan’s President, the Semipalatinsk nuclear testing site has been shut down forever. Together with our neighbors in the region, we signed the treaty on establishing a nuclear free zone in Central Asia. With such decisive steps, we, in the first days of our independence, presented ourselves as a genuinely peace-loving state, a responsible participant of the process of nuclear non-proliferation and of strengthening the global security. We believe that other countries should also follow Kazakhstan’s way of ensuring nuclear free peace.

Secure world is terrorism free world. Today, Islamic countries are confronted to the full extent possible with problems of international terrorism and drug trafficking. The war against international terrorism will not deliver results, if we do not obtain considerable progress in the fight against narcobusiness, which, in fact, feeds terrorism. Such approach is being shaped in the framework of the UN. The complexity of this approach corresponds to the content of the 10 Year Program of Actions of the OIC.

Distinguished participants of the Summit!

Islamic world is vast, but not isolated. We live amongst peoples, confessing other religions and conducting a different mode of life. Now, every country of the Islamic world may and should make its unique contribution into the development of humanity.

And, we are given such an opportunity. Recently, Kazakhstan has been elected the Chairman of the Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe for 2010. We would like to expand cooperation of this reputable European structure with the Islamic world.

Kazakhstan calls on Islamic countries to get actively involved in the drafting of the OSCE’s agenda for the year 2010. Let us contemplate on issues that are common for both, the OIC and the OSCE, and establish inter-institutional cooperation among them. Such issues of common interest could relate to migration and integration of Muslim communities in European countries; the rights of Muslim women and youth in Western societies; transfer of advanced technologies, environmental problems and an updated conceptualization of the International Law.

We are eager to strengthen cooperation of the OIC with international organizations on a wide range of issues and to make our own contribution to the noble activity of the Islamic Conference. In this regard, we propose to hold the Islamic Council Meeting of Foreign Ministers in 2011 in Kazakhstan. We request the High Forum for the support of this initiative.

I would like to conclude my statement by drawing your attention to the thought of the great al-Farabi that is in the following, - “the entire Earth will become virtuous, if only peoples do help each other to achieve happiness. Wisdom will uncover the lack of sense in discords between peoples”.

Thank you for the attention.