MINSK, March 31 (NNN-BELTA) -- Kazakhstan's chairmanship of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) expresses the interests of all Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries, says Belarus' President Alexander Lukashenko.

At a meeting here Tuesday with the visiting OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Kazakh Secretary of State and Foreign Minister Kanat Saudabayev, he said: "We fully agree with (Kazakh president) Nursultan Nazarbayev who has said that Kazakhstan has been delegated to the post of the OSCE chairmanship as a collective representative of the CIS.

"In this connection Belarus fully supports the priorities that Kazakhstan has announced.
I hope that Kazakhstan will implement all the plans at this important post."

President Lukashenko reminded that Belarus was an active advocate of Kazakhstan's candidature to the post of the OSCE chairmanship from the very start.

"A certain discussion, a struggle of positions is taking place at the OSCE now. Kazakhstan can count on full support of the Belarusian side. We are always ready to extend a helping hand," the president assured.

Saudabayev, on behalf of President Nursultan Nazarbayev, invited President
Lukashenko to attend the OSCE summit which is to take place in Astana in the first half of this year.

According to Saudabayev, the agenda of the forthcoming summit is under preparation. "Almaty will host an informal session of the OSCE Council of Foreign Ministers in summer. The session is expected to coordinate the agenda of the Astana summit," he said.

According to him, "There is an ambivalent attitude towards the agenda inside the organization. It is important, however, that today everyone agrees that holding such a meeting is appropriate."

He added that the recent session of the CIS Council of Foreign Ministers in
Moscow showed the unity of the Commonwealth member-states on the issue.

Saudabayev called the agreements reached during President Nazarbayev's previous visit to Belarus a breakthrough. "You have already demonstrated that Belarus have come to Kazakhstan for long," Lukashenko stated, addressing the Kazakh Secretary of State.
-- NNN-BELTA