ASTANA, Kazakhstan, January 30. Kazakhstan has
assumed the chairmanship of the Central Asian Nuclear Weapon-Free
Zone (CANWFZ), Trend
reports via the country's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The chairmanship was transferred to Kazakhstan during the annual
consultative meeting of the signatory states to the Central Asian
Treaty on a Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone.
Throughout the meeting, participants engaged in discussions
regarding collaborative efforts for 2025, as well as plans for the
current year, with a particular focus on coordination within the
United Nations framework.
As the newly appointed chair, Kazakhstan's delegation emphasized
that this year marks the 20th anniversary of the treaty's signing
in Semipalatinsk. They underscored the critical importance of
sustained cooperation on key disarmament and non-proliferation
platforms, notably the Review Conferences of the Treaty on the
Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) and the Treaty on the
Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW).
The CANWFZ Treaty, also known as the Semipalatinsk Treaty, was
signed by Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and
Uzbekistan on September 8, 2006, and entered into force on March
21, 2009, after being ratified by all five parties.
The Semipalatinsk Treaty created the first nuclear-weapon-free
zone in the northern hemisphere, in a region that was once a
testing ground for nuclear weapons and a hub for uranium mining for
military purposes.
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