US delegation urges Kazakh reform

Kazakhstan has not yet fulfilled its commitments on democratic reforms ahead of taking up the chairmanship of an international security and democracy group in 2010, a U.S. congressional delegation said Tuesday.

Kazakhstan, which will become the first former Soviet state to chair the Organization for Security and Cooperation, has promised to reform its election laws and take steps to increase media freedom by the end of 2008.

"Progress was to be made in 2008, but in order to meet those commitments far more progress needs to be made," Sen. Benjamin Cardin said. He said he remained confident the required changes will eventually be implemented.

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