AKIPRESS.COM - A roundtable discussion on developing national legislation on access to information took place yesterday in Astana, Kazakhstan.

The event was initiated by the lower chamber of Kazakhstan’s Parliament, and co-organized by the OSCE Program Office in Astana with support of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights and in cooperation with the Legal Policy Research Center, Internews-Kazakhstan, the Legal Council of National Democratic Party “Nur Otan”, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights’ Regional Office for Central Asia, the United Nations Organization for Education, Science and Culture and the Soros-Foundation Kazakhstan.

The purpose of the meeting was to review the draft law on access to information and concurrent legislation developed by the Parliamentary Working Group under the International Affairs, Defence and Security Committee of the lower chamber of the Parliament. Some 50 members of both chambers of the Parliament, government officials, journalists, representatives of civil society and international organizations took part in the discussion.

National and international legal and media experts, including Robert-Jan Uhl, Legislative Support Officer from the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, presented their legal opinions and recommendations to the draft law based on the international standards and best practices.

“The adoption of national legislation on access to information will help implement the strategic tasks set before Kazakhstan in the context of promoting good governance, countering corruption and enhancing the state institutions’ transparency and accountability in compliance with OSCE commitments and principles,” said Ambassador Natalia Zarudna, the Head of the OSCE Program Office in Astana.

Maulen Ashimbayev, the Head of the International Affairs, Defence and Security Committee of the lower chamber of the Parliament stressed: “The need to adopt the law on access to information has been widely recognized and thoroughly discussed for a long time. We believe that... the adoption of this law would be a logical and timely step.”