Japan, Kazakhstan to lead effort against nuclear testing

February 25, 2015

Japan and Kazakhstan have been designated by the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization to lead the international efforts to implement the agreement, which seeks to permanently end nuclear testing.

The two nations were chosen unanimously at a meeting of the member states in Vienna, according to a communique released Tuesday by the organization.

The ambassador of Kazakhstan, Kairat Sarybay, said that “in 2016 will be the 10th anniversary of the Central Asian Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone Treaty” approved in the Kazakh city of Semey, and the 20th anniversary of the start of the process of signing the CTBT.

Semipalatinsk, the Kazakh region where the former Soviet Union conducted nuclear tests that affected the local population, was the reason that President Nursultan Nazarbayev in 1992 renounced the possession of nuclear weapons, according to the Kazakh diplomat.

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