ASTANA, 15 April 2010 - Today the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Kazakhstan’s Secretary of State and Foreign Minister Kanat Saudabayev, issued the following statement:

"Today, on April 15, as a result of joint efforts of Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbayev, U.S. President Barack Obama and Russia’s President Dmitriy Medvedev, as well as active mediation by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, along with the United Nations and the European Union, an agreement was reached with the Interim Government of Kyrgyzstan and President Kurmanbek Bakiyev on his departure from the country.

Mr Bakiyev has already left Kyrgyzstan.

This development is an important step towards the stabilization of the situation, a return to a framework providing for the rule of law, and the prevention of a civil war in Kyrgyzstan.

In the interests of all the people of Kyrgyzstan, we call on all political forces in that country to ensure stability, public order and the rule of law, and to address the most pressing social and economic problems as soon as possible.

The OSCE stands ready to continue to provide further assistance to Kyrgyzstan to move beyond the current political crisis towards peaceful democratic development."

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