Nur-Sultan to host Nazarbayev Prize for Nuclear Weapons Free World award ceremony

August 28, 2019

NUR-SULTAN – Nur-Sultan will host Aug. 29 the award ceremony of the Nazarbayev Prize
for a Nuclear-Weapons-Free World and Global Security.
Established in 2016, the Nazarbayev Prize is awarded to prominent individuals for their
contribution to nuclear disarmament and global security.
“High-level foreign guests, diplomatic missions, government officials and parliament
members are invited to the event,” said Kazakh Foreign Ministry spokesman Aibek
Smadiyarov at an Aug. 26 briefing.
The award ceremony coincides with the International Day against Nuclear Tests designated
Aug. 29 by the United Nations General Assembly Resolution 64/35 unanimously adopted
Dec. 2, 2009.
The resolution, which was initiated by Kazakhstan, calls for raising awareness about the
“effects of nuclear weapon test explosions or any other nuclear explosions and the need for
their cessation as one of the means of achieving the goal of a nuclear-weapon-free world.”
The date commemorates the closure of the Semipalatinsk test site, where 456 Soviet nuclear
tests were conducted over 40 years. Nearly 1.5 million people in Kazakhstan have suffered
from the consequences.
The prize continues the country’s efforts to urge the international community to undertake
more vigorous steps towards a nuclear-weapons-free free world.
King of Jordan Abdullah II bin Al-Hussein was the first to receive the international award in
2017.
Kazakhstan’s First President Nursultan Nazarbayev handed the award to King Abdulla II of
Jordan for his contribution to promoting peace in the Middle East region, including through
efforts in support of the creation of a nuclear free zone in the region, and his efforts to shelter
more than 1.5 million Syrian refugees in Jordan.