Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan Roman Vassilenko visited the headquarters of the Council of Europe (CE) and held a number of meetings on the margins of the winter session of the Parliamentary Assembly of this organization (PACE), DKNews.kz reports.
Deputies of the Senate of the Parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan Nurlan Beknazarov and Baurzhan Kaniyev also took part in the work of the PACE winter session.
As part of the visit, the Kazakh diplomat met with the leadership of the Council of Europe, the Assembly and European deputies, and spoke at a meeting of the PACE Group of European Conservatives and Democratic Alliance.
He informed the European partners about the results of the presidential elections, the ongoing large-scale reforms aimed at building a “Just Kazakhstan”, as well as about the early elections of deputies of the Mazhilis of the Parliament and maslikhats of Kazakhstan scheduled for March 19.
PACE President Tiny Kox, Secretary General of the Council of Europe Marija Pejčinović Burić, her deputy Bjørn Berge commended the reforms spearheaded by President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, expressed their readiness to expand cooperation and emphasized the special regional role of the country in the face of unprecedented geopolitical challenges. They intend to continue to contribute to further strengthening of the democratic pillars of the Kazakh society.
PACE vice-presidents, heads of their national delegations, deputies Bertrand Bouyx (France), Ahmet Yildiz (Turkey), and Emanuelis Zingeris (Lithuania) spoke in favour of intensifying contacts with Kazakh parliamentarians and strengthening inter-parliamentary diplomacy. They expressed strong support for Kazakhstan’s democratic course, including constitutional changes, the abolition of the death penalty, the expansion of women’s membership in Parliament, and the strengthening of the institute of the Human Rights Commissioner, which, according to them, is not yet observed in all member countries of the Council of Europe.
A meaningful exchange of views took place with the newly elected rapporteur on Kazakhstan, the leader of the Group of the European People’s Party in PACE, Polish Senator Aleksander Pociej. He plans to visit Astana later this year to develop proposals for bringing cooperation between PACE and Kazakhstan to a qualitatively new level.
Generally, Roman Vassilenko assured European partners Kazakhstan is interested in further strengthening cooperation with the Council of Europe as a unique and needed organization, whose potential in promoting democratic processes, protecting human rights and the rule of law is far from being exhausted.
Kazakhstan is a party to four conventions of the Council of Europe, as well as a member of the Group of States against Corraption (GRECO) and the European Commission for Democracy through Law (Venice Commission). Cooperation with PACE is carried out in accordance with a bilateral agreement of 2004. State bodies of the Republic of Kazakhstan are working on joining other conventions of the Council of Europe.
