Institute for Strategic Studies: nuclear non-proliferation - a priority of Kazakhstan's foreign policy

ASTANA. KAZINFORM The issue of non-proliferation of nuclear weapons is one of the priority directions in Kazakhstan's foreign policy, said the deputy director of the Kazakhstan Institute for Strategic Studies (KazISS) under the President, Sanat Kushkumbayev.

According to him, nuclear non-proliferation has been Kazakhstan's "specialty" since it gained independence in 1991, and the country's efforts in this regard including the closure of the Semipalatinsk nuclear test site, signing the deal on the establishment of a nuclear-free zone in Central Asia, and the creation of a bank of low-enriched uranium are well-known and highly praised around the world.

The expert notes that President Nazarbayev's effort in terms of nuclear non-proliferation find great support in the world and that in this regard, the country has called on the international community to strive for achieving a world free of nuclear weapons by 2045 - the UN's 100th Anniversary.

Sanat Kushkumbayev stressed that although this is an ambitious goal, a large number of countries, including the current U.S. administration, has already supported the initiative.