18-19 Oct. 2006

NATO supports arms control seminar in Kazakhstan Background NATO’s role in conventional arms control General Bulat Sembinov, Deputy Defence Minister of Kazakhstan, addresses seminar Transparency of arms control, particularly in Central Asia, was the focus of a NATO-supported seminar, hosted by Kazakhstan in Almaty, 18 and 19 October. The seminar on “International Arms Control on Confidence and Security Building Measures in the Modern Context” attracted a broad range of participants, including NATO officials and representatives of NATO and Partner countries, notably from Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan as well as from Afghanistan and Russia. Vienna Document General Bulat Sembinov, Deputy Defence Minister of Kazakhstan, with seminar participants The presentations and discussions emphasised the goal of full implementation of the Vienna Document 1999, a politically binding instrument on security and confidence building measures within the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), as well as the benefits of practical implementation of the measures outlined in the document.   NATO and its Partner countries consider confidence and security-building measures as an essential instrument for enhancing peace and stability, security and transparency within  the Euro-Atlantic area. The seminar was organised by the United Kingdom on behalf of NATO Allies,  in cooperation with Kazakh authorities. It had the support of the OSCE, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) and of several NATO countries - Canada, Denmark, Germany, Luxembourg and the Netherlands.  Keynote speakers included: Professor Adam Daniel Rotfeld, former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Poland; Dr. Pal Dunay, Senior Researcher SIPRI; Dr Andrei Zagorski Deputy Director of the Moscow Centre of the Carnegie Foundation and Mr. Michael Biontino, Head of Division, Directorate-General for Disarmament and Arms Control, German Ministry of Foreign Affairs.