Kazakh President’s Manifesto presented in the United Nations
ASTANA. KAZINFORM The Substantive Session of the UN Disarmament Commission (UNDC), which started its work in New York on 4 April 2016, will continue to meet for the next three weeks until 22 April. Kazakhstan is playing an important role, chairing UNDC working group on nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation of nuclear weapons. During his speech at the opening ceremony, Permanent Representative of the Republic of Kazakhstan to the United Nations Kairat Abdrakhmanov informed the delegations of Member States about the important initiatives of President Nursultan Nazarbayev and approaches that Kazakhstan took in the field of nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation.
Delegates were familiarized with the fundamentally new document authored by the President of Kazakhstan, titled Manifesto «The World. The 21st century». It expresses the momentous stand on the issues of war and peace, the threat of a nuclear apocalypse in the event of failure of the international community to promote and advance a total ban on nuclear weapons. This Manifesto is posted on the UN Secretariat’s electronic system and is accessible to all the Member States.
Kazakhstan’s delegation in its statement stressed the role of the Nuclear Security Summits (NSS) and announced the results of the participation of the leadership of Kazakhstan in the Fourth NSS held in Washington, DC, including joint statements with several countries and groups aimed at strengthening the non-proliferation regime and nuclear security.
The initiatives by Kazakhstan, such as the adoption by the 70th session of the UN General Assembly of the Universal Declaration on the Achievement of a Nuclear-Weapon-Free World; the signing of an Agreement between Kazakhstan and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) for the establishment of the IAEA Low-Enriched Uranium Bank in Kazakhstan were noted especially. He also highlighted the proposal of the President that all the UN Member States consider transferring 1% of their defence budgets to the UN Sustainable Development Goals Fund; and finally the initiative to establish a Global Anti-Nuclear Movement.
Note: The UNDC is a deliberative body and a subsidiary organ of the General Assembly which is mandated to consider and make recommendations on various disarmament-related issues. The agenda of the Commission includes two major items: nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation of nuclear weapons; as well as conventional arms/weapons. UNDC holds its substantive yearly sessions in New York (usually in April) for approximately three weeks in the form of plenary sessions and two working groups.
Source: www.mfa.gov.kz