[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 13] [Extensions of Remarks] [Pages 18025-18026] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]COMMENDING PRESIDENT NURSULTAN NAZARBAYEV FOR ORGANIZING THE OSCE ASTANA SUMMIT ______ 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 [[Page 18026]] 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. ____________________