On March 21, the Central Asian Nuclear-Weapon-Free-Zone (CANWFZ) Treaty formally entered into force. Kazakhstan, which once possessed the world's fourth-largest nuclear stockpile, signed the pact along with Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. William Potter [2]of the Ploughshares-funded James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies [3]at the Monterey Institute applauded [4]the treaty: "Attainment of the CANWFZ comes at a propitious moment for nuclear disarmament and nonproliferation, and at a time when the nonproliferation regime is under severe strain." The Central Asian zone joins three other active NWFZs.
Links
[1] https://ploughshares.org/file/432
[2] http://ploughshares.org/expert/69
[3] http://cns.miis.edu/
[4] http://cns.miis.edu/stories/081201_canwfz.htm
[5] http://www.globalsecuritynewswire.org/gsn/nw_20090323_8513.php