On 11 March 2019 Ambassador Sven-Olov Carlsson, Head of the EU Delegation to Kazakhstan, visited the ISTC Main Office in Astana to discuss with ISCT Executive Director David Cleave ten going transition of the organization and its relations with the host country- Kazakhstan.

The meeting took place on invitation by the ISTC Executive Director as a continuation of the interaction with the EU Delegation on numerous and various topics of mutual interest. The ambassador received a debrief on the current priorities of ISTC and the implementation of the ongoing EU-funded or co-funded projects. At present the EU is the biggest donor at ISTC with 20 projects in ISTC States Parties, out of which 6 in Kazakhstan, including the large-scale regional projects as the ones on bio-safety and bio security and on dual use export control in Central Asia. Special attention was attributed to the intended ISTC Water Management projects which are also in line with the EU-Central Asia Enhanced Regional Cooperation on Environment, Climate Change and Water (WECOOP2) project.

Ambassador Carlsson noted in his comments that not surprisingly the ISTC core areas of interest match Kazakhstan’s foreign policy priorities in nonproliferation and peaceful use of nuclear energy. On the other hand, it was underlined that most of the ISTC Targeted Initiatives correspond with the major guidelines of the new EU strategy for Central Asia, that is soon to be finalized and officially announced.

The Ambassador thanked for the introductory visit to ISTC Secretariat and confirmed the staunch support of the EU delegation for ISTC’s mission and successful performance on country specific and on regional basis.

Ms Silvia Pietropaolo, Project officer, Cooperation section, EU Delegation also attended and participated in the meeting, as did from ISTC side: Aidyn Turebayev, Deputy Executive Director, Kamen Velichkov, Senior Program Manager and Diplomatic Advisor, and Burkhard Endrullat, Senior Program Manager.