Space should be a realm of peaceful cooperation of the human race – Kazakhstan’s Foreign Minister
At the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva, Kazakhstan’s Foreign Minister Marat Tazhin noted that Kazakhstan regards as important the work done by the USA and Russia under the agreement on reduction of strategic offensive arms.
The Minister emphasized that taking into account that the said agreement expires late 2009 the talks should be intensified on the treaty’s future. “We believe that a new document should envisage specific measures to reduce strategic delivery vehicles and nuclear warheads. We also welcome discussions within the Conference on Disarmament on status and pace of nuclear reduction. Nevertheless, these measures alone are not sufficient to make the process irreversible. More efforts are needed to make the world free of nuclear weapons”.
The Minister noted that the initiative to start talks on drafting an agreement to ban fissile materials production is very timely. Herewith, he stressed that the other three key issues should not be overlooked either – namely nuclear disarmament, prevention of arms race in space, negative security assurances.
“We appreciate the efforts taken by Russia and China to elaborate a draft agreement on prevention of arms race in space. This issue is growing important as more countries get involved into and hinge on implementation of space projects. As the country accommodating the Baikonur cosmodrome and as a nation successfully developing its space program and cooperating with other nations in the realm of space exploration, we are confident that safety in space should be one of the central issues covered by the Conference. Space should be a realm of peaceful cooperation of the whole human race”, the Minister said.
When delivering a speech at the Conference, Marat Tazhin noted that “Kazakhstan has set an example of utmost responsibility before the current and future generations; the nation has convincingly demonstrated that true safety rests on peaceful foreign policy, internal stability and sustainable economic and political development, rather than on nuclear arsenals”.
In support of the statement, the Kazakh Minister reminded that “history of independent Kazakhstan is inseparable from nuclear disarmament. At the dawn of independence, in August 1991, President Nursultan Nazarbayev signed an epoch-making decree to close the Semipalatinsk nuclear testing site; this move sealed the only true strategic choice of non-nuclear status. With time the wisdom of making such a choice is getting more obvious”.
However, M. Tazhin noted, “as an active player of disarmament efforts, Kazakhstan is sorry to see the lack of any tangible results in the realm – in the last decade the Conference’s work has been almost paralyzed. Nuclear disarmament is at stagnation stage. The international community has been unable to resolve certain issues related to disarmament and non-proliferation in default of consensus and political will”.
In this context, the Kazakh Minister emphasized that inequality laid in the foundation of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty results in that nuclear powers do not regard it necessary to abide by non-proliferation commitments. All this feeds the destructive sentiments and feeling of “unfairness of the NPT” in certain areas of the world. The worst is that nations aspiring to possess weapons of mass destruction do get serious arguments. Therefore at the 62nd session of the UN General Assembly, President of Kazakhstan called nuclear powers to advance towards a world free of nuclear weapons by setting an example and to take measures to enforce the NPT and strengthen non-proliferation regime”.
Kazinform
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