The third Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council Security Forum, with the participation of high level representatives from NATO and Partner countries, held in Kazakhstan, on 24-25 June 2009.
The idea to host the Forum in the Republic of Kazakhstan was proposed by the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev and was supported by the North-Atlantic Council.
It is remarkable that it was the first time this forum has taken place in a country of Central Asia.
"For the first time in the history of Alliance the EAPC Forum is held in the Central Asia. The global scale of risks and security challenges of the 21th century dictate the world community the necessity of efforts unification for the search of answers for broad range of threats, both in global and regional security.", President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev commented when greeting the participants and guests of the event.
The former two Forums were held in Sweden (Are city) in 2005 and in Macedonia (Ohrid city) in 2007.
The Security Forum was an informal ground for open and free discussions on regional and global security issues. The main idea of the Forum was “Security through Partnership”. During the plenary and thematic sessions of the Forum the broad range of topics discussed, including security in Central Asia and Caucasus, situation in Afghanistan and energy security issues.
The forum gathered delegations from 50 countries of the EAPC and NATO and other international organizations, and mass media, the most important delegate being NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer.
The cooperation between the Republic of Kazakhstan and the NATO was started after Kazakhstan had joined the North-Atlantic Cooperation Council in 1992, and which transformed to the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council (EAPC) in 1997.
In order to develop the political dialogue and military cooperation with the NATO, Kazakhstan has joined “Partnership for peace” (PfP) Program on May 27, 1994.
Currently, the bilateral cooperation with the North-Atlantic Alliance is fulfilling in accordance with the agreements, reached during the negotiations between the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev and the NATO Secretary General J.de Hoop Scheffer in the NATO Headquarters (December 2006), and also in accordance with task of the Head of the State to deepen and intensify the practical cooperation with the NATO.
The collaboration between the Republic of Kazakhstan and the NATO is accomplished within the training and equipping of certain armed forces divisions, particularly “Kazbat”/“Kazbrig” peacekeeping force, in accordance with the NATO standards;  training of a special rescue crew, which can participate in international rescue and humanitarian operations under the NATO/UN mandate; boundary security cooperation; armed forces reforms and using the NATO potential in science, emergency civil planning, environmental problems solving.
The meeting opened with a plenary session including keynote speeches by the NATO Secretary General, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, the Foreign Minister of Kazakhstan Marat Tazhin and the Foreign Minister of Denmark Per Stig Møller.
 “Today, Kazakhstan is NATO's most active Partner in the Central Asian region. There has been solid progress in defence and military cooperation," the Secretary General said.
"The issues that we will discuss today range from Afghanistan to Caucasus, and from energy security to Central Asian security.  Each of these topics affects NATO allies and partner countries. And so each of them has a strong partnership dimension", he added.
After delivering a welcome speech on behalf of Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev, Foreign Minister Marat Tazhin underlined the importance of the forum.
“Kazakhstan is located at the crossroads of geopolitical platforms. It is obvious that since gaining its independence the strategic choice of Kazakhstan has been to promote integration and establish alliances in the areas where separation lines more likely to emerge and there is a need for cooperation. This policy generally reflects global trends towards greater interdependence and at the same time takes into account specific features of the region.
Due to its geographical location Central Asia serves as a kind of testing ground for trends coming from the West and the East. Our task is not to mechanically apply experiences of other regions but rather to creatively reconsider alternative models and gradually develop our own unique regional architecture”, Marat Tazhin said.
“This forum is a perfect venue for dialogue. I hope that everyone here is prepared to discuss the complex issues of the region in a constructive and mutually beneficial manner", he added.