Special Edition
Senator Lugar Urges Continued U.S.-Kazakhstan Nonproliferation Cooperation
Senator Richard Lugar (R - IN), on a visit to Almaty on August 18, said the United States and Kazakhstan should continue working together on nonproliferation issues. This includes such activities as securing fissile materials and supporting the operations of the Almaty-based anti-plague research facility, according to Khabar (www.khabar.kz) and Kazinform (www.kazaag.kz) news agencies.
Speaking at a news conference, Sen. Lugar said the works would continue until at least 2007. He noted this year the U.S. will provide $20 million in support of the development of the anti-plague research facility, formally known as the Scientific Center for Quarantine Infections.
"A new laboratory will be built here, which will sustain the joint efforts of Kazakhstan and the U.S. for many years," Sen. Lugar said after touring the facility. Lugar, who is the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, noted the overall U.S. assistance would continue until the nuclear materials are secured and the many natural hot zones of plague and other infectious diseases are isolated.
Sen. Lugar noted that the American assistance in Kazakhstan under the Cooperative Threat Reduction Program was used efficiently over these years and pointed to the establishment of the export control regime for fissile materials and the development of a solid legislative base. The funds were largely used to destroy the infrastructure of the Semipalatinsk nuclear test site, the bioweapons plant in Stepnogorsk and other projects.
Kazakhstan provided leadership in global disarmament, Sen. Lugar noted, when, "having [inherited] such enormous stockpiles of nuclear weapons, it voluntarily renounced them and became a non-nuclear state. This decisive and courageous step is known and recognized by the whole world."
Earlier in the day, Sen. Lugar spoke to President Nursultan Nazarbayev by telephone, and thanked him for Kazakhstan's support in the war on terror and the upcoming dispatch of engineers from Kazakhstan's army to Iraq. He later met separately with Foreign Minister Kassymzhomart Tokaev, and Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Vladimir Shkolnik.
According to the decree of President Nursultan Nazarbayev, Minister Tokaev presented Senator Lugar with Kazakhstan's highest award for foreign dignitaries, Order Dostyk of the 1st degree, for his contribution to ensuring international security and promoting bilateral cooperation in nonproliferation.
Former Senator Sam Nunn was awarded the same order by the same decree, the administration of the President announced today. Back in 1992, the two senators cosponsored the bipartisan landmark legislation creating the Cooperative Threat Reduction program, which paved the way for U.S. financial assistance in destroying the weapons of mass destruction and their infrastructure in the former USSR. During the past decade, the U.S. has spent up to 1 billion dollars under the program in Kazakhstan, Belarus, Russia and Ukraine. This includes about 200 million dollars in Kazakhstan.
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News Bulletin of the Embassy of the Republic of Kazakhstan to the USA and Canada
(Compiled from own sources and various agencies' reports)
Contact person: Roman Vassilenko
Tel.: (202) 232- 5488 ext. 104, Fax: (202) 232- 5845
