Kazakhstan and Japan have completed the chairmanship of the CTBT conference
ASTANA, September 21, 2017 – A ministerial conference on article 14 of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) was held in New York. The event was held within the framework of the 72nd session of the UN General Assembly with the participation of more than 150 states that signed the Treaty.
During the conference, Kazakhstan and Japan handed over a two-year co-chairmanship in this process to Belgium and Iraq. The main task of the co-chairs is to facilitate the early entry into force of the CTBT. In accordance with Article 14 of the Treaty, for its entry into force, ratification by all States included in Annex 2 is required.
“For two years, Kazakhstan and Japan have worked consistently to promote the Treaty’s entry into force. In October 2015, in Astana for the first time in the history of the CTBT, a joint document was signed in support of the Treaty at the highest political level – the President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev and the Prime Minister of Japan Shinzo Abe. Similar calls on behalf of Kazakhstan and Japan were made within the framework of the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington and the session of the Open-ended Working Group in Geneva in 2016, “Kazakh Foreign Minister Kairat Abdrakhmanov said at the conference.
The Foreign Minister also drew attention to the importance of commissioning the Bank’s building of the low-enriched uranium of the IAEA in Ust-Kamenogorsk for peaceful use of atomic energy and strengthening the nuclear non-proliferation regime. K. Abdrakhmanov dwelled in detail on the initiatives of the Head of State N. Nazarbayev in the sphere of nuclear disarmament and nonproliferation, put forward during the opening ceremony of the BNUU building, as well as the results of the Jubilee conference of the Pugwash movement of scientists held in Astana.
The CTBT was opened for signature in 1996. The treaty establishes a ban on all types of nuclear weapons tests and is an important tool in the field of nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation. The co-chairmanship of Kazakhstan as part of the process to promote the entry into force of the CTBT is a continuation of President Nazarbayev’s initiatives on nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation and has served as another significant contribution of our country to the process of establishing a universal ban on nuclear testing.
Press service of
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Republic of Kazakhstan