# OSCE chairmanship and Astana Summit (1–2 December 2010)

URL: https://allhistories.com/kazakhstan/timeline/2010-osce-chairmanship-and-astana-summit
Location: Astana
Themes: OSCE, Diplomacy

In 2010 Kazakhstan held the chairmanship of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, the first former Soviet state to do so. The year ended with a summit in Astana on 1 and 2 December, the seventh in the organisation's history and the first since Istanbul in 1999. Leaders adopted the Astana Commemorative Declaration, which reconfirmed the OSCE's comprehensive concept of security. Astana had pursued the chair for years, and Western governments had asked for democratic reforms in return. The chair was seen in Astana as a mark of arrival among European institutions. Government leaders saw the year as recognition of the country's status, while human-rights groups pointed to continuing restrictions on media and political competition. The summit produced a political declaration but no new binding commitments. Observers disagreed over its success. Supporters said it showed Kazakhstan as a mediator after the 2008 Georgia war and the unrest in Kyrgyzstan in 2010. Critics, including some European analysts, said that the promised reforms did not follow. At this point in the timeline (2010), the Republic of Kazakhstan was led by President Nursultan Nazarbayev (16 December 1991 – 20 March 2019), while Prime Minister Karim Massimov (10 January 2007 – 24 September 2012) headed the government.

## Why it matters
Hosting Europe's largest security body gave Kazakhstan its biggest diplomatic prestige moment and exposed the gap between its international image and its domestic record.

Ruler at the Time: [Nursultan Nazarbayev (President of Kazakhstan)](https://allhistories.com/kazakhstan/rulers/nursultan-nazarbayev-president-of-kazakhstan)

## Sources
- [Wikipedia — Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organization_for_Security_and_Co-operation_in_Europe)
- [Eurasianet — Kazakhstan to assume OSCE chairmanship in 2010](https://eurasianet.org/kazakhstan-to-assume-osce-chairmanship-in-2010)
- [EUCAM — The 2010 OSCE Kazakhstan Chairmanship: Carrot Devoured, Results Missing](https://eucentralasia.eu/the-2010-osce-kazakhstan-chairmanship-carrot-devoured-results-missing/)