OSCE Chairman in Office and Belgian Foreign Minister Karel De Gucht said on March 27 during a meeting with President Nazarbaev in Astana that Kazakhstan has the best chance of any Central Asian country to chair the OSCE. Noting that Kazakhstan hopes to chair the OSCE in 2009, De Gucht said, \"For the OSCE, it\'s very important that it be headed by a country located to the east of Vienna. We feel that Kazakhstan is the worthiest candidate for the [chairmanship] post in the OSCE in Central Asia.\" De Gucht also praised Kazakhstan\'s democratization prospects. He said, \"In view of such phenomena as stable economic growth and tolerance in society, I believe that Kazakhstan has all the prerequisites to begin far-ranging democratic transformations, and I think that the country will manage this task.\" (Interfax-Kazakhstan)