Bloc mentality could seriously undermine whole non-proliferation process - Nazarbayev
ASTANA. May 21 (Interfax-AVN) - Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev has said that the continued inertia of a bloc mentality, the deficit of trust and openness in international relations risk undermining the whole process of nuclear non-proliferation.
"This could seriously undermine the whole process of nuclear non-proliferation, annul all the achievements of the past decade, including those gained in the framework of global nuclear security summits," Nazarbayev said at a CICA (Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia) in Shanghai (China) on Wednesday, according to his press office.
"This is exactly why I suggested drafting and adopting the Universal Declaration on a Nuclear-Weapon-Free World. I was and remain a consistent advocate of this idea. A good basis for its implementation will be a further expansion of regional non-nuclear zones," said the head of state.
Earlier this month the five nuclear states signed a protocol providing security guarantees for the signatories to the Central Asian Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone Treaty, Nazarbayev recalled.
"This event is a very important historical landmark both in terms of bolstering security of the Central Asian region, and in general the global non-proliferation regime. We hope that in the future that a similar zone will also be established for the other regions that assumed a non-nuclear status," the Kazakh president said.
At the same time, it is important to develop peaceful nuclear power to resolve problems such as poverty, unemployment, and food security, the president said.