An OSCE-supported regional training seminar on the practical implementation of the Vienna Document 2011 concluded on 25 May 2023 in Astana. Twenty-seven military officers from Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan took part in the seminar.
The Vienna Document was adopted by all OSCE participating States and obliges them to share information on their armed forces and military activities. It also contains provisions on compliance and verification, such as conducting and hosting inspections and evaluations, as well as on risk reduction, military contacts and co-operation, and prior notification of certain military activities.
The seminar aimed to increase understanding, raise the role of confidence- and security-building measures, while taking into account contemporary developments, and promote military co-operation between OSCE participating States in Central Asia and Mongolia. Military and civilian experts from Belarus, France, Germany, Italy, Kazakhstan, the Benelux Arms Control Agency (BACA), and the OSCE Conflict Prevention Centre shared their expertise in the field of organization and co-operation between Vienna Document verification centres. The seminar also included lectures by professors of Gumilyov Eurasian National University, theoretical exercises and a simulated inspection visit to the 36th Air Assault Brigade near Astana city, where participants conducted a simulated assessment in accordance with the provisions of the Vienna Document on compliance and verification.
Yuri Fenopetov, Deputy Head of Mission of the OSCE Programme Office in Astana said: "OSCE participating States should continue to uphold, support and further strengthen arms control and confidence- and security-building measures in order to reduce the risk of conflict, increase confidence and promote greater openness and transparency in military planning and activities. We believe that the development and strengthening of confidence- and security-building measures are always relevant and we welcome the active role of Kazakhstan in this matter."
The OSCE Programme Office in Astana organized the three-day event in co-operation with Kazakhstan's Defence Ministry, OSCE Secretariat Conflict Prevention Centre, and with the support of the OSCE Centre in Ashgabat, OSCE Programme Office in Bishkek and OSCE Programme Office in Dushanbe.
The Office has been organizing seminars on the Vienna Document in Kazakhstan since 2006. The seminar is part of the Programme Office's long-standing efforts to promote OSCE confidence- and security-building measures and regional security.
