ASTANA. March 1 (Interfax) - Kazakhstan believes it is necessary to discuss the issue of the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) after 2026, Kazakh Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mukhtar Tileuberdi said.
"Kazakhstan, as a convinced supporter of nuclear disarmament, believes it is necessary to discuss the issue of the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty after 2026. It is also important that the five nuclear powers demonstrate firm commitment to the joint statement on the unacceptability of a nuclear war adopted in January 2022," Tileuberdi said at a high-level segment of the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva on Wednesday.
The world became less safe in the past year, the minister said. The conflict in Ukraine, huge nuclear arsenals, the intensified nuclear rhetoric and the absence of dialogue are leading the world in a dangerous direction, he said.
Kazakhstan consistently supports the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) and will chair its Third Meeting of States Parties, he said.
"The Meeting participants will give special attention to the initiative of Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev on the creation of the International Biological Security Agency. This Agency could function as an executive body of the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention and give special attention to the needs of developing countries," the Kazakh Foreign Ministry said in a report.
The Conference on Disarmament is the only permanent multi-party forum for talks on disarmament and arms control issues. Important documents such as the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention, the Chemical Weapons Convention, and the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty were drafted at the Conference.
The Conference on Disarmament comprises 65 states.