74th Anniversary of the Hiroshima Bombing

August 6, 1945, left a mark on humankind’s history as the day of the tragedy of the Japanese people who suffered from the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. For almost 74 years this day has been commemorated as a day of remembrance and sorrow. The Kazakh people, who also experienced the tragedy of nuclear testing, understand the pain and suffering that the people of Japan had to go through. More than a million people at the Semipalatinsk test site have suffered from over 450 nuclear explosions over 40 years of its operation, from 1949 to 1989. 

On August 29, 1991, according to the will of the people of Kazakhstan, First President of Kazakhstan - Elbasy Nursultan Nazarbayev permanently closed the test site by his decree. Since then, Kazakhstan has been taking measures to eliminate the consequences of nuclear tests at the former Semipalatinsk test site. We are sincerely grateful to the Japanese people for the assistance provided to us in eliminating these consequences.

 

Hiroshima and Semey became symbols of not only the tragedy, but also the fight against the nuclear threat. Kazakhstan, together with Japan and other members of the world community, has consistently and actively pursued the policy aimed at ridding humankind of nuclear weapons and strengthening the non-proliferation regime.

 

On the initiative of Kazakhstan, in 2009, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution on declaring August 29 as the International Day against Nuclear Tests. In accordance with the objectives of this resolution, conferences, seminars, exhibitions and other events were held in Kazakhstan and many other countries, aimed at reminding the world of the terrible consequences of nuclear tests and urging not to allow this to happen again.

 

In 2015, on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, on the initiative of the First President, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution on the Universal Declaration on a Nuclear-Weapon-Free World. Supported by most UN member states, it has become an important step towards the adoption of a legally binding international instrument to ban nuclear weapons.

 

The period from 2017 to 2018 was one of the culmination stages of the development of Kazakhstan’s foreign policy, when our country was a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council. Nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament was Kazakhstan’s top priority at this important post, as a result of which Nur-Sultan once again reaffirmed its commitment to implementing the agreements on the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT).

 

Another important initiative of Kazakhstan is the ATOM project, which enables anyone who opposes nuclear weapons to sign an online petition addressed to world governments with an appeal to abandon nuclear tests forever.

 

Together with the countries of the region, in 2006 Kazakhstan created a Central Asian Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone. It is quite symbolic that the agreement on the creation of this zone was signed in Semipalatinsk.

 

We highly value the role of civil society in nuclear disarmament and the strengthening of the non-proliferation regime and believe that only by uniting the efforts of civil society, parliamentarians and governments can we achieve the noble goal of ridding the world of nuclear weapons. We are confident that only by completely eliminating nuclear weapons on the planet can we guarantee that the tragedy of Hiroshima will never happen again.

 

Kazakhstan will always promote the ideals of a nuclear-weapon-free world and actively participate in international events and initiatives aimed at achieving this goal. This remains Kazakhstan’s foreign policy priority.