Elbasy’s global initiatives that helped change the world, view
The global community marks the International Day against Nuclear Tests annually on the 29th of December. This date was instituted by the United Nations General Assembly 11 years ago. And it was the First President of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev, who put forward that initiative.
Coming from the country which experienced all the horrors of nuclear tests carried out at the Semipalatinsk site, Nursultan Nazarbayev realized he had to stop sufferings of millions of people. He decreed to shut down the world’s largest nuclear test site on August 29, 1991 and changed the face of our planet forever. Afterwards many countries followed Kazakhstan’s example by closing their test sites as well.
Nazarbayev’s decision to renounce the world’s fourth largest arsenal paved the way for the adoption of the 1996 Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. At Kazakhstan’s initiative the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution declaring August 29 the International Day against Nuclear Tests in 2010.
But Nursultan Nazarbayev didn’t stop at just shutting down the Semipalatinsk test site. Throughout his presidency he continued to urge all countries to commit to nuclear disarmament and fully abandon nuclear weapons by 2045. His personal contribution to the cause of nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation can hardly be overestimated.
Elbasy was also behind another initiative which has become an instrumental element in the system of regional and interregional security. The idea to convene the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) was voiced by Nursultan Nazarbayev at the 47th session of the United Nations General Assembly back in 1992.
With time the CICA has united the majority of Asian countries which represent different cultures, civilizations and development models, become a functioning international organization and gained a real shape and independence.
In late September 2020 Kazakhstan assumed the CICA Chairmanship. It will further spearhead the institutionalization of the Organization and go to great lengths to raise its profile at the international level.
When talking about the First President’s contribution to inter-faith and inter-ethnic accord one should not forget about the initiative to gather leaders of all world religions under one roof. The Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions for the first time ever convened in 2003. It brought together representatives of Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, Shintoism, Daoism and other traditional religions.
The idea to convene the Congress is based on Kazakhstan’s own example as the country which has created the successful model of co-existence of 18 confessions that live in peace, accord and mutual understanding. «In Kazakhstan there is no room for discord and conflicts,» as Nursultan Nazarbayev stressed at one of the Congresses of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions.
Back in 2009 Nursultan Nazarbayev came up with another idea to establish the Turkic Council which would unite peoples from Turkic-speaking states. The decision to establish the Turkic Council was adopted on October 3, 2009 in Azerbaijan. Among the key tasks and goals of the international structure is strengthening of mutual trust, friendship and good neighborliness, promotion of peace and security, contribution to bilateral and regional cooperation
The Turkic Council is also called to preserve national values and strengthen the genetic code of the Turkic people. Historic grandeur of Turkic people is reflected in unique subtleties of military art, art and diplomacy, secrets of precious metal mining and processing methods, unequalled poetic masterpieces, huge encyclopedia of medical knowledge and many vital aspects of humanity. The world community has always recognized invaluable importance of the Great Silk Road.
Turkic countries have untapped economic potential. The aggregate market of the Turkic Council states is some 150 million people. Over the past years cooperation between countries became pragmatic.
Thanks to Nursultan Nazarbayev’s wise and far-sighted policy the Kazakh capital, now called Nur-Sultan, played a host to a number of historic events, including the 2010 OSCE Astana Summit, the international meetings on cessation of hostilities between the conflicting parties in Syria. In fact, the Kazakh capital hosted seven international meetings on the Syrian settlement.
In May 2014, presidents of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan signed the Treaty on the establishment of the Eurasian Economic Union in the Kazakh capital. It was again Elbasy Nursultan Nazarbayev who came up with the idea and used the term «Eurasian Union» for the first time during his first official visit to Russia in 1994.
Ten years later his idea was turned into reality with the establishment of the Eurasian Economic Union. Armenia and Kyrgyzstan became its full-fledged members, while Uzbekistan, Moldova and Cuba gained the observer status. The EAEU has a total area of over 20,229,248 km and boasts a population of over 184 million people.
To date, the EAEU has signed the Free Trade Agreements with Vietnam, Singapore, Iran, and Serbia.
This is a small portion of initiatives masterminded by First President of Kazakhstan-Elbasy Nursultan Nazarbayev. Thanks to his wise and well-balanced policy Kazakhstan achieved tremendous success throughout three decades of its independence. Under the leadership of current President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev Kazakhstan will continue along the chosen path of democratic reforms and economic stability.