Murad Askarov said Since the first years of their Independence, the five Central Asian states have embarked on one of the fundamental provisions of the NPT - Article VII of the Treaty, which provides for the conclusion of regional treaties and agreements on the establishment of nuclear-weapon-free zones. He underlined that initiative on creation of such zone was announced by the President of Uzbekistan in 1993 at the 48th session of the UN General Assembly for the first time.

The Uzbek envoy recalled that the agreement on creation of Central Asian Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone (CANWFZ) was signed on 8 September 2006 in Semipalatinsk (Kazakhstan). Kazakhstan. Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan became the participants of the treaty.

“Conclusion of the Treaty in Semipalatinsk has been deeply symbolic in terms of the nuclear non-proliferation. It is well-known that in the past the Semipalatinsk site, which has been officially closed by Kazakhstan in 1991, was one of the largest nuclear test sites of our planet where a total of 459 nuclear explosions were conducted”, he said.

The Ambassador expressed gratitude to the support of the international community to the efforts of five Central Asian States to implement the initiative of the establishment of the CANWFZ, in particular the financial assistance extended by Japan.

Murad Askarov called other states and regions of the world follow Central Asian example. “We hope that all parties concerned will take practical steps to implement the proposal to establish a Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone in the Middle East,” he stated.

“To promote the good practice of establishing of nuclear-weapon-free zones in different parts of the world, we are suggesting accelerating the institutionalization of the status of all the existing zones with the provision of the negative security assurances by Nuclear-Weapon States,” Uzbek envoy said.