SCO foreign ministries debated security and stability issues in Beijing

During the meeting, the member states discussed regional security cooperation and stability issues, including upcoming Presidential elections in Afghanistan, withdrawal of international troops from the country during the current year, as well as interaction with the country on bilateral and multilateral levels, the Kazakh MFA's press service said. The Kazakh delegation presented the outcomes of the workshop titled "The contribution of the UN Security Council Resolution 1540 (2004) to the regional and global disarmament and non-proliferation - dedicated to the 10th anniversary of the UN Security Council Resolution 1540", which was held in Astana on March 11-12, 2014. The head of the Kazakh delegation informed the participants of the national efforts aimed at development of the Universal Declaration on the Nuclear-Weapon-Free World and International Day Against Nuclear Tests (29th of August), initiated by President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev, and adopted by the Resolution of the UN General Assembly on December 2, 2009. Kazakhstan's initiative - Universal Declaration on the Nuclear-Weapon-Free World - was supported by representatives of the SCO member-states which participated in the meeting. In particular, permanent representative of the People's Republic of China to the SCO Secretariat Wang Zhen outlined that "China highly appreciates Kazakhstan's efforts in this area". Member of the Russian Federation delegation, Senior Counselor of Security and Disarmament Department of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs G. Lutai stated that "Russia respects the initiative of the President of Kazakhstan and highly appreciates Kazakhstan's actions in the area of disarmament and non-proliferation".