Former Soviet republics Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan have undertaken commitments against the production, acquisition and deployment of nuclear weapons, its components and other nuclear explosives in Central Asia.
"The zone will include a state that possessed nuclear weapons in the past [Kazakhstan], it will be the first nuclear-free zone in the northern hemisphere and it will be the first multilateral security agreement to unite all the five Central Asian states," the Kazakh Foreign Ministry's press service said.
Kazakhstan, the planet's ninth biggest country, has 25-30% of the world's uranium reserves and civilian nuclear development is not prohibited.
Russia, a consistent advocate of rigorous compliance with nuclear nonproliferation regulations, hailed the move. "This is a step in the right direction, which can ensure confidence and stability," Foreign Ministry spokesman Mikhail Kamynin said.
