Kazakhstan joins Berlin Communique to support NPT Review Process
Kazakhstan’s delegation, which was led by the Director of the Department of International Security of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Dastan Yeleukenov, participated in the meeting as one of the 16 participating States of the Stockholm Initiative (Argentina, Canada, Finland, Ethiopia, Germany, Indonesia, Japan, Jordan, the Netherlands, Norway, New Zealand, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland), which was launched last year in the Swedish capital to galvanize global diplomacy on nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation issues, the Kazakh MFA’s press service reports.
In his opening remarks Germany’s Federal Foreign Minister Heiko Maas called upon the international community to overcome the stalemate in the area of nuclear disarmament and drew attention to the fact that the NPT is in grave danger without the necessary political capital.
In this context, Germany’s top diplomat gave high marks to the efforts of Kazakhstan and several other NPT States signatories to strengthen international safety and ensure that nuclear disarmament issues remain at the top of the international agenda. This work is carried out within the framework of «Stockholm Initiative» ministerial meetings as well as relevant international organizations, and is garnering additional relevance in light of the 10th anniversary of the NPT Review Conference, which will be held in New York City on 27 April – 22 May 2020.
During the Berlin meeting’s working session the participants adopted a political communique based on the results of Stockholm Initiative working group meetings held at the deputy foreign minister level in September 2019 on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, and expressing commitment to the NPT and related obligations on nuclear disarmament, non-proliferation and peaceful uses of nuclear energy.
Moreover, the Berlin meeting agreed on «stepping stones» to develop additional multilateral approaches to support the Treaty, including a more transparent declarative policy, strengthening negative security guarantees and limiting the production of fissile material.
The NPT is an international treaty that for half a century has been pursuing the goals of preventing the proliferation of nuclear weapons, promoting cooperation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy and achieving universal nuclear disarmament. Kazakhstan’s accession to the NPT in 1994 as a non-nuclear state gained the recognition of the international community and had consolidated our country's global leadership in strengthening nuclear safety.