On 4 May 2015 the Astana alumni chapter of the OSCE Academy met with Dr Erlan Karin, Director of the Kazakhstan Institute for Strategic Studies under the President of Kazakhstan (KazISS).
KazISS is one of the main state analytical institute the main goal of which is to provide the research and analysis to the President and Administration of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Dr Karin briefly presented the history of development of KazISS as well as the current priorities of the Institute. He, thus, mentioned the emphasis on building up the capacities of in-house expertise, the movement from wide coverage of topics to narrower focus, and an emphasis on enhancing the research on Central Asia.
During the questions and answers session some more topics were covered, including the issues of religious extremism and terrorism, the challenges of combining academic and think tank nature of the work, and so on.
The meeting was followed by an informal dinner of alumni with the OSCE Academy’s representatives. Alumni shared about their professional as well as personal achievements and updates of the last year and briefly discussed the alumni events for a coming year.