President of Kazakhstan to open Low Enriched Uranium Bank

"We are actively engaged in institutionalizing the Central Asian Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone signed in Semipalatinsk in 2005. An important contribution to the enhancement of the non-proliferation regime is the establishment of the IAEA Low Enriched Uranium on the territory of Kazakhstan. Its opening will take place on August 29 this year with the participation of Head of State Nursultan Nazarbayev," the Senate Speaker said at the opening of the 62nd Pugwash Conference.

Kassym-Jomart Tokayev emphasized that since gaining the independence, Kazakhstan has made a considerable contribution to the nuclear security, fully complying with the international obligations in that respect and actively promoting strengthening of non-proliferation regime. Therefore, Kazakhstan is considered as the leader of the anti-nuclear movement in the world community, he stressed.

"The weighty contribution made by the founder of the Republic of Kazakhstan, President Nursultan Nazarbayev, is of historic importance in the struggle for all mankind's peaceful and stable future. The unprecedented example of a responsible approach to the global security was the decision taken by the Head of our State to close the Semipalatinsk nuclear test site and voluntarily give up the world's fourth largest arsenal of nuclear weapons in 1991," Mr. Tokayev said.

He recalled that Kazakhstan is a party to all international treaties on nuclear disarmament, non-proliferation and nuclear security.

"At the initiative of our country, the UN General Assembly adopted the resolutions to declare August 29 as the Day of the Semipalatinsk Test Site Closure, the International Day Against Nuclear Tests, and September 26 as the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons. Kazakhstan is also the initiator of the Universal Declaration on the Achievement of a Nuclear-Weapon-Free World adopted by the UN General Assembly in December 2015. In view of the current tense international situation, this initiative of the President of Kazakhstan is highly relevant," he said.

Recall that this year the capital of Kazakhstan hosts the 62nd Conference of the Pugwash movement of scientists , one of the founders of which was Albert Einstein. It will last for four days.

"We are honored to welcome to our land the representatives of the world-famous Pugwash movement of scientists, the United Nations, international organizations, diplomatic corps based in Kazakhstan, prominent politicians, and international security experts. All of us are united by the common willingness to build the world without any threat of nuclear war and man-made nuclear disasters," Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said welcoming the conference guests.