Participation of Kazakhstan in NATO and OSCE guarantees collective security - expert
EAPC (Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council) has succeeded the previous Forum - NACC (North Atlantic Cooperation Council) quite recently. The change of the forum's name assumes the change of accents in the NATO activity towards the European and Eurasian vector.
Astana, which is situated in the heart of Eurasia, will represent a dialog platform for representatives of more than 50 countries. The initiative of President N. Nazarbayev to arrange the Forum here can probably be the result of intention to construct a bridge of trust with the Eurasian vector of the NATO activity.
Despite its big significance the activity of EAPC as a forum does not suppose concrete joint political and military decisions of NATO member countries.
What questions are planned to be discussed at the forum?
The topic of the Forum is "Security through partnership". According to the strategic orientation of NATO to the Southern Caucasus and Central Asia, the tasks of the Forum are to discuss the issues of security maintenance in the regions in different spheres: political, economic and military. It is interesting if Kazakhstan could become a kind of peacemaker, and EAPC Forum stimulate the political dialog between Russia and Georgia. In 2002 on the CICA summit in Almaty our President succeeded to be the peacemaker: representatives of Israel and Palestine, India and Pakistan gathered at negotiating table. There was no decision made, but the dialog was started.
It is also interesting to learn the position of Uzbekistan, which dialog with NATO and leading western countries is not stable. Possibly, the activity of Uzbekistan in the EAPC would be connected with discussions on military-political events in Afghanistan.
The delegations of different international organizations applied to participate in the Forum. Recently the SCO summit finished in Yekaterinburg, and practically all the member countries of this organization (except China) are the partners of NATO and CSTO. Will there be rapprochement between NATO, CSTO and SCO or each organization would form their own strategy concerning global and regional challenges.
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?
The forum is held on the Asian continent for the first time, but the top-level meetings have already been held here. For example, in 2000 Kazakh President N. Nazarbayev met with former NATO Secretary General Lord George Robertson in 2000 in Astana.
Cooperating with NATO Kazakhstan develops practically all directions of the Partnership Program, including 10 purposes of the program "Planning and Analysis Process", keeps contacts with military structures of the Alliance member states, several times participated in joint military exercises.
How does the Al-Farabi Kazakh National University prepare for the Forum?
The center regularly organizes seminars and conferences devoted to NATO.
Within the framework of the Forum the Information Day about the NATO's program "Science for Peace and Security" will be held in the university in Almaty on June 24.