Government of Kazakhstan,
ASTANA, Kazakhstan: An international conference – 'Kazakhstan's way to a nuclear weapon-free world' – will take place in Kazakhstan's capital, Astana – 29 August – marking the 16th anniversary of the closure of the Semipalatinsk nuclear test site in the northeast of the country.
The conference, organised by Kazakhstan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, will highlight Kazakh-US partnership in nuclear non-proliferation and Kazakhstan's fifteen-year involvement in the Cooperative Threat Reduction (CTR) Programme, also know as the Nunn-Lugar Programme. The CTR programme provides funding and expertise for former Soviet states to decommission nuclear, biological and chemical weapon stockpiles.
Kazakhstan has received acclaim for its foreign policy and national security via nuclear disarmament. The country became the second in the world (after South Africa) to voluntarily shut down a nuclear test site on its territory. Since then, President Nazarbayev has rid the country of all nuclear weapons, which once constituted the world's fourth largest arsenal. More than 450 nuclear tests were conducted at Semipalatinsk prior to Kazakhstan's independence, contaminating swathes of land and negatively affecting the health of 1.5 million people.
This week's conference will be attended by important figures in non-proliferation, including high ranking representatives of the International Atomic Energy Agency, US congressmen Chris Cannon and Eni Faleomavaega, European and US academics, and Kazakh Secretary of State, Kanat Saudabayev. The Minister of Foreign Affairs Marat Tazhin and the Minister of Energy & Mineral Resources Bakhtykozha Izmukhambetov will also attend.
Although free of all nuclear weapons, Kazakhstan is an important player in the nuclear energy market. The country is the world's third largest uranium producer – and aims to become the global leader by 2010.
