OSCE needs a serious upgrade - A. Lukashenko

"We consistently advocate for the creation of a unified security system within our organisation's area of responsibility. This would help provide all participants with clear and equal guarantees in this area," said the President of Belarus. "In particular, we believe that the nuclear-weapon States participating in the OSCE could already today provide non-nuclear-weapon States Parties with unconditional and unambiguous guarantees of security, sovereignty, and territorial integrity. Yesterday, Belarus and the United States adopted here in Astana a joint statement on joint measures to prevent nuclear proliferation, confirming, among other things, existing elements of guarantees. This is an important and concrete contribution to the common cause of creating a secure Europe and world." According to the Head of State, the majority of strategic challenges facing countries concern economic, environmental, and energy security. "We propose to develop and approve key principles of cooperation in the field of energy security that would bring the interests of producers, transit countries, and consumers to a common denominator," he stressed. Belarus also advocates for strengthening the OSCE's role in protecting energy infrastructure, using alternative and renewable energy sources, and ensuring all countries' access to advanced technologies in this field, said the President. In his speech, Alexander Lukashenko also touched upon electoral issues. In his opinion, the OSCE needs to develop universal standards for evaluating elections. "Much has been said about human rights. If we are to discuss this topic, we must do so seriously. Electoral issues are always in the spotlight of the OSCE's activities. And in general, the OSCE sometimes becomes a sort of cudgel in someone's hands during the election period of one state or another. The election standards, which are spoken of by OSCE representatives and officials, are, unfortunately, absent for us. But there is constant reference to these standards. Therefore, today we need to develop election standards, and they must be universal," the President stated. According to him, it would be logical to work within the OSCE to approve common principles for observing the application of election standards. "There are already proposals from several countries on this topic," noted the Head of the Belarusian State.Alexander Lukashenko also emphasized that freedom of movement is one of the priorities in the field of human rights. He recalled that the OSCE actually began with this very issue. "At one time in Helsinki, Madrid, we all voluntarily undertook quite unambiguous commitments to facilitate interpersonal contacts and freedom of movement," said the Belarusian leader. "However, the situation is much worse than 11 years ago. Bureaucratic, and at times frankly humiliating to human dignity, visa application procedures, and their disproportionate cost are a significant barrier to the free movement and contacts between citizens of our countries. Contacts that, more than anything else, contribute to the growth of mutual understanding and trust." "Our organization, by the way, is called 'for security and cooperation'. How can states cooperate in such conditions if many people are deprived of contacts due to visa barriers?" asked the President of Belarus. Among the key priorities of the organization in the humanitarian sphere should remain the fight against human trafficking – one of the most important aspects of protecting real human rights, believes the head of the Belarusian state. Belarus's initiatives on this issue at the UN are well known. According to Alexander Lukashenko, the OSCE, with its rather serious expert and organizational potential, could make a more significant contribution to the implementation of the UN Global Plan of Action in this area. "I am convinced that by joint efforts, we will be able to bring the fight against 21st-century slavery to a qualitatively new level," he stressed. "I want to reiterate that for the Republic of Belarus, the OSCE remains one of the key organizations in the field of security in the Euro-Atlantic space and in creating a zone of stability and sustainable development in the region of responsibility. Belarus is working not in words but in deeds to strengthen the practical package of security and the observance of the interests of the citizens of our states – from nuclear non-proliferation to the protection of humanitarian rights. We are ready to continue to unite our efforts in these areas with all partners in the OSCE," stated the Belarusian leader.Alexander Lukashenko thanked Kazakhstan, the President and the people of this country for the hospitality they provided during the summit. "Allow me to also express sincere gratitude to the Kazakh Chairmanship of the OSCE, the President of Kazakhstan, for the courage to initiate and hold this forum. I know how difficult it was to overcome the skepticism and distrust voiced from all sides," he said. The President also wished Lithuania significant achievements during its chairmanship of the OSCE in 2011 and added that Belarus would do everything in its power to ensure the success of the Lithuanian chairmanship. On the second day of the summit in Astana, a bilateral meeting also took place between Alexander Lukashenko and the State Secretary of the Vatican, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone. "We are watching with great attention how the Belarusian state is addressing issues of religion, and in particular, issues of the Catholic religion," said Tarcisio Bertone. "A key factor in the development of trusting relations between our countries is the agreement we are currently working on." In turn, Alexander Lukashenko noted that the parties "have no fundamental disagreements, difficulties, or complexities." All emerging issues are being successfully resolved. "But nevertheless, perhaps there are problems, claims against us on the previously identified topics? We are ready to consider them as a matter of urgency," he added. Alexander Lukashenko presented Tarcisio Bertone with a Bible published in Belarus. "We know that Cardinal Bertone has a double celebration today: his birthday and the 50th anniversary of his ordination. Therefore, we specifically brought you a Bible," said the head of the Belarusian state. Before departing for Minsk, the President of Belarus answered questions from journalists from various countries. In particular, Alexander Lukashenko told representatives of the Georgian media that Belarus is interested in a peaceful resolution of the conflict in Georgia. "We are absolutely peaceful people, we would like our brothers in Georgia (we lived in one state, both Russians and Georgians), to still find a peaceful resolution to this conflict, so that the situation there finally calms down," he said. He stressed that this conflict does not add stability to the Caucasus, and Belarus would like people there to live with dignity. "They deserve it," added the President.In an interview with the Kazakh television channel "Channel 7", the President of Belarus paid tribute to the Kazakh side, emphasizing that the summit was organized at the highest level. There were no problems, and nothing hindered the forum's work. He also noted that holding the summit is the highest standard that the President of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev, set for himself and achieved. At the same time, Alexander Lukashenko stated that he was "not delighted with the work of the OSCE summit." "I would not want to evaluate the work of the summit, because it is already our responsibility - all OSCE members. I am not delighted with this work," he said. Regarding the work of the OSCE, Alexander Lukashenko criticized several aspects of its activities. "Tell me, what kind of organization is this that does not have its own charter. What kind of organization is this that still cannot resolve a single issue, even though decisions were made by it, unambiguous decisions," he said. The head of the Belarusian state also noted that the OSCE had failed in its task of resolving regional conflicts. "And because these frozen conflicts (Transnistria, Nagorno-Karabakh) are not being resolved, new ones appear - like the one in Georgia," emphasized Alexander Lukashenko. He recalled that the OSCE has several areas of activity, the main one being security. Little attention is paid to economic cooperation in times of crisis. As for the OSCE's "third basket" - the human dimension (democracy, human rights, etc.), according to Alexander Lukashenko, the organization's work has shown a bias in this direction. "For some reason, everyone rushed into electoral issues, democracy, human rights. By the way, human rights are understood too one-sidedly. No one spoke about human rights as a decent life, a sufficient salary, a normal job, etc., which, by the way, is resolved in Belarus and Kazakhstan no worse than in some countries that were present at the summit," said the Belarusian leader. Speaking about the topic of elections in the OSCE's work, Alexander Lukashenko noted that in this regard, there is constant talk about certain electoral standards. "Well, where are these standards, who developed them," he asked rhetorically. "Officials arrive and begin to teach Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Belarus, and others these electoral technologies." "That is, a strange bias has emerged," believes the President of Belarus.According to him, if people were involved in dialogue, both at the highest level and at the level of people's diplomacy, if security and economic issues were resolved, then perhaps the acuteness of this "third basket" of the OSCE, which includes humanitarian cooperation, would disappear. "Every nation has the right to choose its own path of development. I think Kazakhstan will agree with this. I think it's time for individual OSCE members to understand and accept this," added Alexander Lukashenko. Answering a question about bilateral cooperation between Belarus and Kazakhstan, he noted that there are over 30 joint projects between the two countries. Most of them are projects implemented in Kazakhstan. Regarding energy cooperation, the Belarusian leader said: "You are welcome, with great pleasure." According to him, Belarus will process Kazakh oil at its refineries. "And after processing it at our plants, we will supply petroleum products together with you to the European, Russian, Belarusian, and Ukrainian markets," he added. Speaking about the functioning of the Customs Union, the President noted: "This is also very serious cooperation." He expects that with the transition to the Single Economic Space, existing issues will be resolved much more easily. "We have misunderstandings with the Russian side, but since we have embarked on forming the Single Economic Space, we must understand that everything here must be subordinated to the main idea – the free movement of goods, labor, and capital," said the head of state. The Belarusian leader noted that in this aspect of cooperation, the parties are only taking the first steps, and for now, there are more hopes than effectiveness. Nevertheless, according to him, at the first stage of the Customs Union's operation, at least at the level of decision-making and coordination, there are no problems, and if they exist, they are resolved at the expert level and by members of the Customs Union Commission. "The main thing now is to move from this first stage to the Single Economic Space," believes Alexander Lukashenko. As for the visa issue, the President emphasized that for Belarus, this is not a problem: "This is a matter for the Europeans. It seems to me that we are absolutely not far from resolving these issues." According to Alexander Lukashenko, Europeans are also interested in free movement through Belarus and further into Russia and Kazakhstan. "Therefore, I think they will make appropriate decisions," he added.Journalists also asked the head of the Belarusian state about his opinion on what qualities are important for a modern politician. Alexander Lukashenko believes that he should be principled and sincere. "What we lack in politics is sincerity. I would put this at the forefront," said the President. -0-

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