Thank you Dr Frobarth for this detailed report and a warm welcome to the PC. I would also like to echo your welcome for the successful visit of the Secretary General to Central Asia this month. The UK remains committed to and supportive of the essential work that the OSCE field mission is doing in Kazakhstan and across Central Asia.
Kazakhstan remains an important partner for the United Kingdom, with a bilateral relationship spanning over 30 years dating back to independence. We enjoy fruitful co-operation on a wide range of priorities, including trade, climate change and energy; security, reform and education. The visit by my Foreign Secretary to Astana in March, and the visit this month by UK Minister Docherty to Kazakhstan, highlighted the importance the UK places on this relationship. The UK supports Central Asian states' aspirations of prosperity, growth and sovereignty.
Your report rightly focuses on the importance of ensuring the full implementation of reform in Kazakhstan, and progress on the Human Dimension agenda. My ministers had constructive discussions on this with civil society leaders and government counterparts in Kazakhstan.
I would like to draw particular attention to the work that the OSCE Programme Office has done on gender equality and women's empowerment. And I would also like to take this opportunity to thank ODIHR for its important work on election observation of the Presidential and Majilis elections in Kazakhstan.
The UK supports fully the OSCE's excellent work on security and transnational threats. Ensuring that these threats are addressed and managed successfully, justly and openly, is of great importance. We are pleased to hear of the wide-ranging work undertaken on government and parliamentary practice, police reform, and border security.
The UK welcomes efforts to ensure the economies of Central Asia are prosperous, attractive for investment, and that opportunities are open to all. We would like to commend the superb work that the OSCE Office has undertaken in Kazakhstan on anti-money laundering, anti-corruption, trade facilitation, and support for small- and medium-sized enterprises.
This report is an excellent opportunity to reflect on the importance and value of the OSCE mission in Astana. It is important to underline again the negative impact the continued non-agreement of the Unified Budget is having on the work of OSCE field operations. We urge again those participating States who are obstructing agreement of the Unified Budget to look beyond a narrow national focus and ensure all OSCE institutions have the funding they need to be able to effectively fulfil their mandates.
Thanks once again thank you Ambassador Frobarth and your team for your crucial work. My colleagues at our embassy in Astana stand ready to support in any way they can.
