Kazakhstan President Nazarbayev and U.S. President Obama Discuss Current Nuclear State

Seoul, South Korea - March 26, 2012 Kazakhstan's President Nazarbayev and President Obama had a bilateral meeting to discuss the current nuclear state. Transcription below. US President Obama: Well, it is wonderful to see, once again, President Nazarbayev, Kazakhstan, and I want to first of all congratulate him on his leadership for the issues that are going to be discussed over the next two days. Twenty years ago Kazahkshtan made a decision not to have nuclear weapons, and not only has that lead to growth and propertity in his own country, but he has been a model in efforts around the world to eliminate nuclear materials that could fall intwo the wrong hands, so I very much appreciate his leadership. Translator: *translates US President Obama's words for Kazakhstan President Nazarbayev. US President Obama: In fact, one of the major deliverables that will take place in this summer is a oustanding effort to deal with nuclear materials that were a carry over from the Soviet era, working with Russia, the United States, Kazakhstan has been able to secure those materials and that makes us all safer. I know that we'll have an opportunity during this bilaterial meeting, to also discuss some of the other efforts that Kazakhstan has made when it comes to highly enriched Uranium, Plutonium - their efforts at helping to develop an international fuel bank that can lessen the need for countries to pursue their own enrichment capabilities and so across the board, Kazakhstan has been a key leader on these issues and is appropriately going to be featured during the next two days of this nuclear security summit. Translator: *translates US President Obama's words for Kazakhstan President Nazarbayev. US President Obama: Of course, the relationship between our two countries extends beyond just the nuclear security issue, so this meeting will give us the opportunity to discuss the cooperation that we have built over the last several years with respect to Afghanistan and the help we've received in supplying our troops and helping to assist the Afghan government. We obviously have commercial ties as well, and we'll be discussiong how we can deepen those. I'll be interested in discussing with the President efforts to further expand democracy and human rights within Kazakhstan which will help to lead further growth and prosperity in the future. So - I very much appreciate his leadership, his efforts, and I look forward to continuing to strengthen the relationship between our two countries. Translator: *translates US President Obama's words for Kazakhstan President Nazarbayev. Kazakhstan President Nazarbayev: Well I'm very grateful for this opportunity to participate in this important summit. We are discussing a very crucial issue, nuclear security and I'm very grateful to you, Mister President for the invitation to participate in the Washington Summit, and now we are here to discuss a very important issue. Translator: *translates Kazakhstan President Nazarbayev's words for US President Obama. Kazakhstan President Nazarbayev: And Mister President, I support your call to all nations to struggle for a nuclear free world and we fully support the nuclear strategy of the United States and where you state that all the countries that support the non proliferation treaty will get the support of nuclear powers and will not be threatened by any nuclear state and I think that this is a very important goal for the future. Translator: *translates Kazakhstan President Nazarbayev's words for US President Obama. Kazakhstan President Nazarbayev: You discussed in the details that you report Kazakhstan 20 years ago was the first country to close its nuclear test site and we voluntarily renounced our nuclear arsenal. And you know very well that at that time, in the territory [unclear] bought 1,100 war heads where it were on the intercontinental [unclear]. Translator: *translates Kazakhstan President Nazarbayev's words for US President Obama. Kazakhstan President Nazarbayev: And in the last years, we have worked closely - Russia, the United States, Kazakhstan - to demolish the infrastrucutre that was left over on the polygon and we did alot to reallocate [unclear] and the people of Kazakhstan who suffered a lot and who lost many a lives in that tragedy, they appreciate that effort very much. Translator: *translates Kazakhstan President Nazarbayev's words for US President Obama. Kazakhstan President Nazarbayev: And, we worked very closely with the United States and we have achieved a lot, worked jointly on many projects, about 20 billion US dollars have been invested into the Kazakhstan economy so far, and 80% of all foreign investments that were directed in Central Asia ended up in Kazakhstan, and I always show this collaboration as a very shining bright example of good collaboration...