Head of the Foreign Ministry of Kazakhstan spoke at the high-level segment of the Conference on Disarmament

Geneva, February 28, 2023 – Mr. Mukhtar Tileuberdi, Deputy Prime Minister - Minister of Foreign Affairs addressed the High–level Segment of the Conference on Disarmament (CD). The event was opened by Mrs. Izumi Nakamitsu, UN Under-Secretary-General, High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, and more than 50 representatives of the CD Member States delivered statements.

Minister Tileuberdi noted that over the last 12 months the world became even less secure. The conflict in Ukraine, enormous nuclear arsenals, aggravated nuclear rhetoric and lack of dialogue are taking the world to a dangerous direction.

Kazakhstan, as a staunch supporter of nuclear disarmament, considers it necessary to discuss the issue of a new START treaty after 2026. It is also important that the five nuclear weapon states their firm commitment to the joint statement adopted in January 2022 on the inadmissibility of nuclear war.

The Minister stressed that Kazakhstan consistently supports the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) and will chair the third meeting of the States Parties to the TPNW.

Special attention of the participants was paid to the initiative of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev on the establishment of the International Agency for Biological Safety. This Agency could operate as an executive body of the BWC and pay particular attention to the needs of developing countries.

The Conference on Disarmament is the only permanent multilateral forum for negotiations on disarmament and arms control issues. Important documents such as the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, the Biological Weapons Convention, the Chemical Weapons Convention and the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty have been developed within the framework of the Conference on Disarmament.

The Conference on Disarmament consists of 65 States.