Kazakhstan urges support for nuclear disarmament initiatives

NUR-SULTAN, June 9, 2020 - Kazakh Foreign Minister Mukhtar Tileuberdi participated in a ministerial videoconference of the Stockholm Group of like-minded states calling for nuclear disarmament in support of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT).

Tileuberdi pointed out that the Semipalatinsk test site was closed by the decision of the First President of Kazakhstan – Elbasy Nursultan Nazarbayev. He called for support for our initiatives to rehabilitate the environment and the population of the Semipalatinsk region, as well as to implement the provisions of the Universal Declaration on the Achievement of a Nuclear-Weapon-Free World.

During the videoconference, specific steps were discussed, including the work with nuclear-weapon states. Commitment to the goals of the NPT will be essential for the success of the 10th Anniversary of the NPT Review Conference.

The participants in the Stockholm Group, initiated by Sweden, call on the international community, especially the nuclear-weapon states, to use all available means to reduce the role of nuclear weapons in security doctrines and policies, as well as to complete nuclear disarmament. The first meeting of the Group was held in Stockholm in 2019.

Along with Kazakhstan, the Stockholm Group includes Argentina, Canada, Finland, Ethiopia, Germany, Indonesia, Japan, Jordan, the Netherlands, Norway, New Zealand, the Republic of Korea, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland.