PRESS RELEASE
By Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs
President of Kazakhstan announces establishment of new prize for nuclear disarmament and global security and its first recipient – King Abdullah II of Jordan: awarding ceremony in Astana scheduled for November 16
The prize is launched by President Nursultan Nazarbayev as part of his goal to lead a global move to promote peace, disarmament of weapons of mass destruction and the strengthening of a stable world order
ASTANA, 11 October 2016 – Twenty five years since Kazakhstan voluntarily shut down the world’s largest nuclear test site in Semipalatinsk, the Nazarbayev Prize for a Nuclear-Weapons-Free World and Global Security was launched today by President Nursultan Nazarbayev to acknowledge world leaders and organizations, officials and non-officials, who have made vast contributions to regional stability, strengthened global security, and have stood steadfast against war, terror, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and poverty.
“Today I would like to tell you and our people about the new initiative. I have made a decision to establish international award for contribution to nuclear disarmament and security,” Nazarbayev said Oct. 10 at the Akorda presidential residence.
“This year, King Abdullah II of Jordan has been chosen as the first laureate of this award,” he announced.
King Abdullah will receive the inaugural prize in Kazakhstan’s capital Astana on 16 November 2016 at a special gala award ceremony.
His Majesty’s commitment to global peace and security in recent years has been particularly notable through his brave effort to absorb over 1.5 million Syrian refugees into the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and to turn the Middle East into a zone of peace, including through the establishment of a nuclear-weapons-free zone in the Middle East.
The prize has been inaugurated in the spirit of President Nazarbayev’s Manifesto “The World. The 21st Century,” which he presented during the 2016 Nuclear Security Summit in Washington, placing Kazakhstan yet again at the head of a global move to promote world peace, disarmament from weapons of mass destruction and the strengthening of a stable world order.
“Later on, a special committee will be established, by the decision of which the prizes will be awarded to the laureates on the day of closing the Semipalatinsk test site on Aug. 29,” the Kazakh leader added.
The introduction of the award represents Kazakhstan’s firm belief that nations and leaders must shoulder the responsibility for avoiding human catastrophe and for pursuing world peace. The prize rewards international statesmanship characterized by cooperation, compromise, empathy, and a shared hope in the possibility of harmonious coexistence.