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NATO HEAD SAYS IT'S IMPORTANT INTERLOCUTOR FOR KAZAKHSTAN
Jaap de Hoop Scheffer
New Europe
5 July 2009 - Issue : 841
Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, the outgoing NATO Secretary General was a main
guest of the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council (EAPC) Security Forum,
which was held in Sweden in 2005 and in FYROM in 2007. NATO is seeking
to deepen cooperation with its partner countries in Central Asia -
Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. The
NATO partnership offers a multilateral framework for security dialogue
opportunities for bilateral cooperation, which promotes transparency,
builds confidence and helps address shared security challenges. At
a press conference on the eve of the forum and after the plenary
session he answered some important questions concerning Kazakhstan
and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, including those asked by
the Kazinform correspondent.
The EAPC Security Forum for the first time will be held on the
post-Soviet territory and Asian continent in general and will be
the first large event on the territory of our country in 2009. How
important is it for Kazakhstan? What place does it take among the
NATO partners in Central Asia?
I do believe that both Kazakhstan and NATO influence each
other. Kazakhstan's position as an energy supplier and the political
role of your President plays an important role in different areas and
international organizations active in this region. I've just come
back from the Palace of the President. We did not only discuss the
Central Asian region but the Middle East Region as well. We discussed
nonprofit operations; touched upon the uranium issues, nuclear program,
which are well of course in concern of international policymakers. We
discussed the role of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization that is
very important as well. It also will be discussed at the seminars
NATO and Kazakhstan are organizing tomorrow. There's no direct link
between the two organizations but I consider the OSCE as a relevant
organisation for regional security.
With regard to the current level of cooperation between our
country and NATO I would say that is done very well. I know that
your President Nursultan Nazarbayev has always been ambitious about
cooperation between Kazakhstan and NATO. So I can say we have a serious
political dialogue, we have a practical cooperation and Kazakhstan
is very helpful to NATO as far as the lines of communication within
the operation in Afghanistan are concerned. We have an Individual
Partnership Action Plan which we are going to discuss. So I think as
a whole I am very positive about this cooperation.
Kazakhstan will head the OSCE next year. Have you any advice for
Kazakhstan in relation to this post and particularly cooperation
between NATO and Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe?
So, first of all let me congratulate Kazakhstan because I think
in this regard this is a milestone for Kazakhstan that is going
to be the chairman of the OSCE in 2010. I can only say from my own
experience that it is a complicated job. It is a big organisation
where unfortunately are too many conflicts and the chairman-in-office
will have to try to find resolution. I could mention many of them:
Nagorno-Karabakh where the OSCE Minsk Group plays a big role as a
mediator, and we have a lot of unfinished business after the crisis
in Georgia, South Ossetia, Abkhazia and the Caucasus. But I do think
that Kazakhstan is in a good position to mediate and to tackle all
these frozen conflicts. So I wish Kazakhstan and the Kazakhstan
leadership all the very best. It is a difficult job and I am quite
sure Kazakhstan is able to do it very well.
As you know new American leadership and President Barack Obama are
launching several initiatives in Afghanistan, Iraq, and the Middle
East region. In this regard is NATO strategy going to be reviewed in
order to achieve more positive outcomes in these regions?
Let me focus on let's say the boundary question which is relevant to
NATO. We see President Obama as the US new president who has been
very proactive as far as our military operation in Afghanistan is
concerned. That's he intends to do - do very favorable and positive
actions by eventualising the summit of NATO. There is our new
commander, who as you know, commands both US and NATO forces. There
is a review going on and NATO is involved in that review. So I do
think that this pro-activity showed by President Obama is reflected
in the NATO's lines and it also reflected in the position taken by
Obama as far as Afghanistan is concerned. On Iraq I can only tell
that NATO's activities in Iraq are focused as you know on the NATO's
training mission in Iraq. We are training the Iraq escorting forces
in a successful NATO training mission including the mission with the
Italian Carabinieri. And since it is interesting to know that one of
the decisions made at the summit in April of this year is that NATO is
going to have a training mission in Afghanistan, which like in Iraq
will be in combination with American friends. So also in Afghanistan
we are starting up our activity as far as the least is concerned. You
know that NATO does not have any ambitions and I think should never
have any ambitions to involve itself into the Middle East process.
There is an opinion that the security in the central part of Eurasia
should be based not so much on the military control, but on economic
pragmatism. It will help to prevent future traps. Could you brief
about other spheres of cooperation beyond military cooperation?
Let me mention the so called Virtual Silk Highway computer networking
project establishing high speed internet connectivity which I think is
one of the most successful programs in this sense. Another sphere is a
political dialogue in general and, finally civil emergency planning. We
are preparing a training exercise in Almaty this year in consequence
management -"What will you do if there's a disaster?" it may be a
natural disaster. And I think we have excellent interlocutors for
NATO and I am sure that the Kazakh authorities will also consider
NATO as an interlocutor for Kazakhstan. So the cooperation extends
to many many areas. And I think we should be more ambitious and we
can always be more ambitious and Kazakhstan is the important player
in the region and beyond.
Jaap de Hoop Scheffer
New Europe
5 July 2009 - Issue : 841
Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, the outgoing NATO Secretary General was a main
guest of the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council (EAPC) Security Forum,
which was held in Sweden in 2005 and in FYROM in 2007. NATO is seeking
to deepen cooperation with its partner countries in Central Asia -
Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. The
NATO partnership offers a multilateral framework for security dialogue
opportunities for bilateral cooperation, which promotes transparency,
builds confidence and helps address shared security challenges. At
a press conference on the eve of the forum and after the plenary
session he answered some important questions concerning Kazakhstan
and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, including those asked by
the Kazinform correspondent.
The EAPC Security Forum for the first time will be held on the
post-Soviet territory and Asian continent in general and will be
the first large event on the territory of our country in 2009. How
important is it for Kazakhstan? What place does it take among the
NATO partners in Central Asia?
I do believe that both Kazakhstan and NATO influence each
other. Kazakhstan's position as an energy supplier and the political
role of your President plays an important role in different areas and
international organizations active in this region. I've just come
back from the Palace of the President. We did not only discuss the
Central Asian region but the Middle East Region as well. We discussed
nonprofit operations; touched upon the uranium issues, nuclear program,
which are well of course in concern of international policymakers. We
discussed the role of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization that is
very important as well. It also will be discussed at the seminars
NATO and Kazakhstan are organizing tomorrow. There's no direct link
between the two organizations but I consider the OSCE as a relevant
organisation for regional security.
With regard to the current level of cooperation between our
country and NATO I would say that is done very well. I know that
your President Nursultan Nazarbayev has always been ambitious about
cooperation between Kazakhstan and NATO. So I can say we have a serious
political dialogue, we have a practical cooperation and Kazakhstan
is very helpful to NATO as far as the lines of communication within
the operation in Afghanistan are concerned. We have an Individual
Partnership Action Plan which we are going to discuss. So I think as
a whole I am very positive about this cooperation.
Kazakhstan will head the OSCE next year. Have you any advice for
Kazakhstan in relation to this post and particularly cooperation
between NATO and Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe?
So, first of all let me congratulate Kazakhstan because I think
in this regard this is a milestone for Kazakhstan that is going
to be the chairman of the OSCE in 2010. I can only say from my own
experience that it is a complicated job. It is a big organisation
where unfortunately are too many conflicts and the chairman-in-office
will have to try to find resolution. I could mention many of them:
Nagorno-Karabakh where the OSCE Minsk Group plays a big role as a
mediator, and we have a lot of unfinished business after the crisis
in Georgia, South Ossetia, Abkhazia and the Caucasus. But I do think
that Kazakhstan is in a good position to mediate and to tackle all
these frozen conflicts. So I wish Kazakhstan and the Kazakhstan
leadership all the very best. It is a difficult job and I am quite
sure Kazakhstan is able to do it very well.
As you know new American leadership and President Barack Obama are
launching several initiatives in Afghanistan, Iraq, and the Middle
East region. In this regard is NATO strategy going to be reviewed in
order to achieve more positive outcomes in these regions?
Let me focus on let's say the boundary question which is relevant to
NATO. We see President Obama as the US new president who has been
very proactive as far as our military operation in Afghanistan is
concerned. That's he intends to do - do very favorable and positive
actions by eventualising the summit of NATO. There is our new
commander, who as you know, commands both US and NATO forces. There
is a review going on and NATO is involved in that review. So I do
think that this pro-activity showed by President Obama is reflected
in the NATO's lines and it also reflected in the position taken by
Obama as far as Afghanistan is concerned. On Iraq I can only tell
that NATO's activities in Iraq are focused as you know on the NATO's
training mission in Iraq. We are training the Iraq escorting forces
in a successful NATO training mission including the mission with the
Italian Carabinieri. And since it is interesting to know that one of
the decisions made at the summit in April of this year is that NATO is
going to have a training mission in Afghanistan, which like in Iraq
will be in combination with American friends. So also in Afghanistan
we are starting up our activity as far as the least is concerned. You
know that NATO does not have any ambitions and I think should never
have any ambitions to involve itself into the Middle East process.
There is an opinion that the security in the central part of Eurasia
should be based not so much on the military control, but on economic
pragmatism. It will help to prevent future traps. Could you brief
about other spheres of cooperation beyond military cooperation?
Let me mention the so called Virtual Silk Highway computer networking
project establishing high speed internet connectivity which I think is
one of the most successful programs in this sense. Another sphere is a
political dialogue in general and, finally civil emergency planning. We
are preparing a training exercise in Almaty this year in consequence
management -"What will you do if there's a disaster?" it may be a
natural disaster. And I think we have excellent interlocutors for
NATO and I am sure that the Kazakh authorities will also consider
NATO as an interlocutor for Kazakhstan. So the cooperation extends
to many many areas. And I think we should be more ambitious and we
can always be more ambitious and Kazakhstan is the important player
in the region and beyond.