Leaders of 56 countries are gathering in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan, for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's (OSCE) summit on Dec. 1. The group uniting the U.S., Europe and Central Asian nations is holding its first security summit in more than a decade, with Afghanistan and international terrorism high on the agenda.The issues ranging from Afghanistan to terrorism and drug trade are to be discussed. Frozen post-Soviet conflicts, including the Nagorno-Karabakh dispute between Armenia and Azerbaijan, Moldova's rebel region of Transdniestria and Georgia's separatist regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia also are expected to be on the agenda.The top-level meeting of Europe’s 56-member democracy and rights body is a matter of immense personal pride for Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, who is keen to position himself as a major figure on the world stage. Kazakhstan this year became the first former Soviet nation to assume the rotating chair of the OSCE, and Nazarbayev, who has run his Central Asian nation for more than 20 years, is eager to showcase his windswept new capital Astana to the world.U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton pressed Central Asian governments to expand democratic freedoms. Nearly 40 heads of state, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and senior officials have converged on the frost-bitten Kazakh capital to take part in the first OSCE Heads of State summit since 1999.Ukraine's President Viktor Yanukovych said that Ukraine would be also able to be a unifying force in the OSCE. Thanks to a non-aligned status, Ukraine will be "a fair broker" and will make every effort to strengthen the efficiency of the OSCE in the interests of all members of the organization, according to Yanukovych.Ukraine will have a chance to chair the OSCE in 2013.(AP, www.president.gov.ua)
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