Nazarbayev proposes global anti-nuclear parliament

    By Timur Nazarov
    During an international nuclear test ban forum, President Nursultan Nazarbayev proposed the creation of an international anti-nuclear parliamentary assembly.
    The forum was held in Astana and Semipalatinsk, and opened August 28, one day before the International Day against Nuclear Tests.
    Seventy-five countries sent participants to the event.
    Gareth Evans, co-chairman of the International Commission on Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament, praised Kazakhstan for setting an example for the entire world by renouncing the nuclear arsenal it inherited after the Soviet collapse.
    Kazakhstan August 22 began an international campaign against nuclear testing, Mukhtar Tileuberdi, Kazakhstani ambassador to the Swiss Confederation and the UN Office at Geneva, said in a statement released in conjunction with the forum.
    The ATOM (Abolish Testing – Our Mission) program is meant to reduce the worldwide nuclear threat, spread information about the consequences of nuclear explosions (including weapons testing) and mobilize the international community to support a ban on nuclear testing, according to Central Asia Online.