[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 151 (Thursday, November 18, 2010)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1968]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   COMMENDING PRESIDENT NURSULTAN NAZARBAYEV FOR ORGANIZING THE OSCE 
                             ASTANA SUMMIT

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                       HON. ENI F.H. FALEOMAVAEGA

                           of american samoa

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, November 18, 2010

  Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Madam Speaker, I rise today to commend President 
Nursultan Nazarbayev for organizing the OSCE Astana Summit which will 
be held December 1-2, 2010.
  In 2007, under the Bush administration, my colleagues and I 
spearheaded an effort in Congress calling upon the U.S. to support 
Kazakhstan's bid to chair the Organization for Security and Cooperation 
in Europe (OSCE). Recognizing, as David Wilshire, Head of the 
delegation of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, 
noted, that ``building a democracy is a long and hard task,'' we felt 
that the U.S. could and should offer a gesture of goodwill by assisting 
Kazakhstan in its bid to chair the OSCE, considering that Kazakhstan 
voluntarily worked with the U.S. under the auspices of the Nunn-Lugar 
program to dismantle the world's fourth largest nuclear arsenal and 
shut down the world's second largest test site.
  From 1949 to 1991, the Soviet Union conducted nearly 500 nuclear 
tests in Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan, and exposed more than 1.5 million 
Kazakhs to nuclear radiation. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, 
President Nursultan Nazarbayev was among the first to recognize and 
neutralize the dangerous threat posed by the nuclear arsenal Kazakhstan 
inherited and, as a result of his initiative, Kazakhstan in cooperation 
with the U.S. dismantled a nuclear arsenal which was larger than the 
combined nuclear arsenals of Great Britain, France and China.
  President Nazarbayev's decision to dismantle changed the course of 
modern history, and I am pleased that the U.S. finally supported 
Kazakhstan's OSCE bid for 2010. While there will always be critics 
intent on setting Kazakhstan back in its attempt to move the OSCE 
forward, all 56 member States unanimously voted in favor of 
Kazakhstan's chairmanship.
  I believe they did so in recognition of the bold steps President 
Nazarbayev has taken to bring Kazakhstan out from under the yoke of 
communism. Of course there is work left to do but, according to polling 
data from an independent firm hired by the U.S. Embassy in Kazakhstan 
during the Bush administration, 90 percent of the people of Kazakhstan 
support President Nazarbayev and are pleased with the work he is doing 
and more than 63 percent of the people of Kazakhstan have a favorable 
opinion of the United States.
  Since 9/11 and regarding U.S. coalition operations in Afghanistan, 
Kazakhstan has allowed overflight and transshipment to assist U.S. 
efforts. U.S.-Kazakh accords were signed in 2002 on the emergency use 
of Kazakhstan's Almaty airport and on other military-to-military 
relations. The Kazakh legislature approved sending military engineers 
to Iraq in May 2003 and, in his April 2010 meeting with President 
Obama, President Nazarbayev agreed to facilitate U.S. military air 
flights along a new trans-polar route that transits Kazakhstan to 
Afghanistan.
  Now Kazakhstan is the first post-Soviet, first predominantly Muslim, 
and the first Central Asian nation to serve in the top leadership role 
of the OSCE, an organization known for promoting democracy, human 
rights and the rule of law. As Chair of the OSCE, Kazakhstan will also 
host the Astana Summit. The Astana Summit, like Kazakhstan's 
Chairmanship of the OSCE, is historic. Earlier this year, my colleagues 
and I also spearheaded an effort calling upon the U.S. to stand with 
Kazakhstan in support of an OSCE Summit, and I express my thanks to the 
Obama administration, and especially to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary 
Clinton and Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian 
Affairs Robert O. Blake, who are expected to represent the U.S. at the 
Summit.
  The Astana Summit has been organized at the initiative of President 
Nazarbayev and will be the first OSCE meeting of Heads of State to take 
place in more than a decade. It has been 11 years since the OSCE held a 
security summit and the world has changed drastically since then as a 
direct result of 9/11. While I have serious reservations about U.S. 
involvement in Afghanistan, Kazakhstan aims to use the OSCE Chair and 
Summit to press for a resolution to the conflict in Afghanistan and for 
this reason I am pleased that the United States is supporting the 
Astana Summit.
  Given the serious importance of the Summit to U.S. efforts in 
Afghanistan, it is my hope that President Obama will attend. His 
presence will send the right signal to our allies in Central Asia who 
are also putting their lives on the line for us.
  Central Asian countries, and especially Kazakhstan, provide support 
for U.S. and NATO operations in Afghanistan and without their 
assistance we would have no hope for success. But I hope that our 
partnership will extend past the war in Afghanistan in both breadth and 
depth. For over 100 years, the people of Central Asia have lived 
without basic freedoms and, in my meetings with the people and leaders 
of these countries, they, like us, want to continue their march towards 
democracy and this is why I commend President Nazarbayev for providing 
the stability necessary to push freedom forward.
  Once more, I commend Kazakhstan for hosting the Astana Summit and I 
applaud the 56 nations that will participate to demonstrate to the 
world that the OSCE is relevant, essential and committed to responding 
to common security threats.

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