Kazakhstan chairs one of the bodies of CTBTO

Vienna, March 26, 2021 - Erlan Batyrbekov, Director General of the National Nuclear Center of the Republic of Kazakhstan, has been elected as the head of one of the governing bodies of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) in Vienna. He took over the chairmanship at the CTBTO Working Group B for 2021-2024.

Kazakhstan’s victory was the result of a tough competition, during which the representatives of Norway and Paraguay withdrew their candidacies recognizing the merits and consistent policy of our country in disarmament and non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. This position will allow our country to regulate inspection efforts on conducting nuclear explosions across the globe. In total, the CTBTO International Monitoring System includes 302 stations in 185 countries.

It is fitting that Kazakhstan is chairing one of the key CTBTO bodies in the year of the 30th Anniversary of Independence of the country and the closure of the Semipalatinsk Test Site.