Austria appreciates first half year of Kazakhstan's OSCE presidency

Austrian Foreign Minister Michael Spindelegger said at the summit: "Austria appreciates the first half year of the Kazakhstan's OSCE chairmanship. I met with OSCE Chairman-in-office, Kazakh Foreign Minister Kanat Saudabayev. I congratulated him on Kazakhstan's successes as the OSCE chairman".

Austria is interested in further strengthening of bilateral relations with Kazakhstan, in particular, in the field of economy. "Presence of a representative of the Austrian Chamber of Commerce in Astana proves it", he said.

"The conduction of the OSCE Summit this year will allow to strengthen the political role of the Organization. This was the main issue of our talks with K.Saudabayev", President of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly Petros Efthimiou said. "Our talks were devoted to the measures on enhancing the effectiveness of the OSCE under the threats we faced today", he said.

Deputy foreign Minister, Minister for European Affairs David Leadington: "These two-day discussions are an important event where we made a decision on implementation of the initiative of the Kazakh President on holding the OSCE Summit in Astana. I am sue we will achieve good results upon the summit".