Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev on Wednesday called on the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) member states to adopt a declaration in support of a world free from nuclear weapons.
Kazakhstan, which holds the OSCE's rotating presidency in 2010, is hosting a two-day OSCE summit in Astana, the first after a 10-year hiatus. Around 45 heads of state are taking part.
"Today we urge the OSCE partners to support our initiative on the adoption of a universal declaration for a world free of nuclear weapons," Nazarbayev said in his opening speech at the summit.
At the Washington nuclear summit in April, Kazakhstan signed several documents strengthening the global nuclear non-proliferation regime and resolved to give up its nuclear ambitions.
"Our people have suffered from the cruel costs of the Cold War, in particular from the Semipalatinsk nuclear test site," Nazarbayev said. "My decree on closing the site, as well as our renunciation of nuclear weapons, is Kazakhstan's initial contribution to a trans-European process."
Kazakh President also said that OSCE members should develop a complex strategy on the settlement of the situation in Afghanistan.
Nazarbayev said Kazakhstan supported "reviving the economy and returning peace to the country."
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon said the UN would launch "a regional action program for Afghanistan and its neighboring countries at the beginning of next year."
"It [the program] will be aimed at strengthening cross-border cooperation against the threats of drug trafficking and 21st century organized crime," Ban said, adding that the UN would welcome the OSCE's support in the region.
ASTANA, December 1 (RIA Novosti)
