Kazakhstan’s disarmament initiatives discussed in Geneva

At the initiative of Azerbaijan, current chair of the Non-Alignment Movement, Sweden and Germany a briefing on the Stockholm initiative on nuclear disarmament was held on 28 September in Geneva.

Mrs. Zhanar Aitzhanova, Kazakhstan’s Permanent Representative in Geneva, in her statement at the briefing stressed that nuclear disarmament is the most important goal for all. Currently the situation in this area has reached a critical level and lack of trust and dialogue directly affect the viability of disarmament regimes.

The historic decision of the First President Nursultan Nazarbayev in 1991 to close down the nuclear test site in Semipalatinsk, removal of nuclear weapons, creation in Central Asia of a Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone, declaration 29th of August as the International Day against Nuclear Tests by the UN are practical contribution of Kazakhstan to implementation of Nuclear non-proliferation treaty. Moreover, last year, on 29th of August, Kazakhstan became a party to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.

In this regard, the Permanent Representative underlined that in his statement at the UN General Assembly on 23 September President Tokayev stressed that while all of us are understandably preoccupied with the pandemic we should not forget that the nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament crisis is looming right behind COVID-19. We believe that legally-binding negative security assurances should be given to every non-nuclear-weapon state. That is why it is important to ensure that all P5 countries ratify the respective protocols to the Nuclear-weapon-free-zone treaties, including the Semipalatinsk treaty for Central Asia.

The same day the Permanent Representative had consultations with D.Feakes, head of implementation support unit of the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention, to discuss President’s initiative to establish a special multilateral body – the International Agency for Biological Safety accountable to the UN Security Council.