Skopje, 11 August 2023 (MIA) — Central Asia and Kazakhstan face multiple security challenges, especially due to the situation in Afghanistan that strongly affects the entire region, but the OSCE continues to support these countries through a comprehensive package of risk mitigation projects, OSCE Chairperson-in-Office and Foreign Minister Bujar Osmani told a press conference Friday held with his Kazakh counterpart Murat Nurtleu in Astana after their meeting.

"Despite the challenges the OSCE is facing, particularly due to the Russian military aggression in Ukraine, which has a huge impact on our collective, human and economic security, the OSCE will continue to cooperate and offer solutions to provide greater security for the people of the wider region of Central Asia," Osmani said.

According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Osmani stressed that the OSCE program office in Astana was also providing support to Kazakhstan for implementing reforms in the country.

"The cooperation between Kazakhstan and the OSCE has shown excellent results," the OSCE chairman said.

"Our joint three-year project to support judicial reforms has resulted in capacity-building in cooperation with the Supreme Court, government bodies, and national human rights institutions.

"The projects on environmentally friendly ports, the fight against cybercrime and others are also worthy of note," he said, adding that the OSCE's support provided tangible benefits.

The foreign minister noted that bilateral ties between North Macedonia and Kazakhstan were thriving in all areas of common interest — political, economic, commercial and cultural — and he voiced his expectations that they would continue to deepen.

Osmani also expressed gratitude to Kazakhstan for supporting the priorities of North Macedonia's OSCE Chairpersonship. mr/