Meeting at the OPANAL Headquarters

Mexico City, February 29, 2024 – At the invitation of the Secretary General of the Agency for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Latin America and the Caribbean (OPANAL) Flavio Roberto Bonzanini, the Ambassador of Kazakhstan to Mexico Timur Primbetov visited the headquarters of the organization.

The parties had a detailed exchange of views on the interaction between the OPANAL organization and Kazakhstan as a member state to the Treaty on a Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone in Central Asia (CANWFZ).

Flavio Bonzanini highly praised the role and efforts of Kazakhstan in consistently promoting the anti-nuclear agenda at the international level. He introduced the Kazakh diplomat to the activities of the organization within the framework of cooperation with other Nuclear Weapon Free Zones. In this regard, Flavio Bonzanini spoke in favor of intensifying negotiations on concluding a Memorandum of Understanding between OPANAL and CANWFZ.

The Kazakh diplomat, in the conversation with Flavio Bonzanini, focused on the most important Kazakh international initiatives in the field of global security: the creation of the International Agency for Biological Safety; the UN Regional Center for Sustainable Development Goals for Central Asia and Afghanistan and the International Trust Fund to support victims of nuclear tests.

For his part, F.R. Bonzanini emphasized that OPANAL shares and supports Kazakh initiatives. He assured that he would voice them during the meeting of the OPANAL Council in April of this year, which will be attended by 33 member states of the organization.

Timur Primbetov also informed about the upcoming international events in our country – the Astana International Forum, the Second Meeting of Representatives of Nuclear Weapon Free Zones and the meeting of the Coordination Committee of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons with the invitation of the member states of the Treaty. Flavio Bonzanini confirmed his interest in participating in these events.

The meeting took place in a warm and friendly atmosphere and the parties agreed to continue regular working contacts.

 

Reference: The Agency for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Latin America and the Caribbean (OPANAL) was created in 1969 in accordance with the Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Latin America and the Caribbean (Treaty of Tlatelolco), signed on February 14, 1967 in Mexico City. The organization currently includes 33 countries from Latin America and the Caribbean.