Kazakhstan is to designate $50 million for an education program that will provide more than 1,000 Afghans with higher education between 2010 and 2018, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev said on Saturday.

"In our view, what Afghanistan really needs is highly skilled personnel for various industries," Nazarbayev said during an informal meeting in the Kazakh city of Almaty of foreign ministers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) countries.

"We have therefore designated $50 million for the implementation of educational programs for training Afghan citizens at our country's universities," he added.

Nazarbayev said the initiative would help to implement a gradual transfer of security responsibilities to local authorities.

"We believe, that by giving the youth of Afghanistan the opportunity to receive quality education, we are making a valuable contribution to the rehabilitation process in the country, and reducing the spread of extremist ideology and terrorism," he said.

The president also called on the OSCE to develop a new strategy on Afghanistan since "40 OSCE countries are involved in the country."

ALMATY, July 17 (RIA Novosti)