To enhance the legal framework for further democratization, President Nursultan Nazarbayev said yesterday (2.9.08) that “a legal mechanism should be put in place to form the Parliament out of two parties at least - even if the second party does not clear the [current legal] 7% threshold. We will take this step to cultivate a more democratic culture in Kazakhstan. Another important step is the putting in place of more favorable conditions for registration of political parties. Election legislations should be further enhanced with due consideration of suggestions put forward by international and domestic experts.” President Nazarbayev was addressing a sitting of the Kazakh parliament's two chambers in Astana

Kazakhstan will join the OSCE Troika in January 2009 - and a decree has been signed to set up a Kazakh office of permanent representation to the OSCE in Vienna; a special department for cooperation with the OSCE has also been established within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and employees of certain public bodies are currently being trained in OSCE member states.

Kazakhstan's priorities when chairing the OSCE will be reflected in the ‘Path to Europe' program for 2009-2011. The goal of this ambitious program is to reach new levels of strategic partnership with EU countries in all realms – trade and economy, innovative technology, energy, transport, S&MB development, humanitarian cooperation, etc..