DUSHANBE, September 4, Asia-Plus – The presidents of Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan have agreed to declare Central Asia a nuclear-free zone.
A treaty on turning Central Asia into a nuclear-free zone is expected to be signed in Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan, on September 8, Russia’s “Nezasivismaya Gazeta” reported.
The treaty will be signed by the foreign ministers of the five Central Asian states — Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, according to the source.
The treaty consists of two parts. The first part is the treaty itself and the second — a protocol, which is an integral part of the treaty and is a pledge by the five nuclear powers — the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China — to guarantee the signatory-countries’ security and not to use nuclear weapons against them.
There are five nuclear-free zones in the world, involving some 100 countries and covering nearly half of the earth’s surface. The formation of nuclear free zones began in the middle of the 1960s with the United Nations and the world community’s full backing.
In the meantime, the presidents of Tajikistan (Emomali Rahmonov), Kazakhstan (Nursultan Nazarbayev), Kyrgyzstan (Kurmanbek Bakiyev), and Uzbekistan (Islam Karimov) on September 2 met in Astana for talks that focused on economic and other issues. The presidents discussed rational use of the region”s water and energy resources. The four presidents also agreed to revive the International Fund for Aral Sea, which the Central Asian states established in the mid-Nineties to stem the desiccation of the Aral Sea, which has increasingly caused health problems in the region.
