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10 December 2004

Kazakhstan Signs Agreement to Prevent Spread of Bioweapons

Security expected to improve at Kazakh biological facilities

Washington -- Kazakhstan and the United States have signed an agreement designed to eliminate the threat of proliferating biological weapons (BW) or the use of related technology or know-how by terrorists.

On December 8, the two nations signed an amendment to a 1995 bilateral agreement that is part of the Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction program. The program is designed to prevent the proliferation of biological weapons technology, pathogens and expertise.

Under the terms of agreement, the United States will provide $35 million for study projects, including one designed to develop medical countermeasures for diseases than could be spread in Central Asia by biological agents such as the plague.

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Richard Lugar pushed for stronger cooperation between the two nations during a visit to Almaty in 2003. The latest development prompted he to praise the Bush administration and the Defense Department: "This is a critical step forward in addressing the threat posed by the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction," Senator Lugar said.

Lugar also praised Kazakhstan for partnering with the United States "to work toward successfully eliminating the risk of biological weapons and preventing bioterrorism."

The U.S. assistance will be used to prevent the proliferation of BW through cooperative research efforts, strengthen biosafety and biosecurity at Kazakh facilities, consolidate dangerous biological agents at secured central repositories, eliminate BW-related equipment and infrastructure, and bolster Kazakhstan's ability to detect biological agents and to deter or respond to an attack.

Lugar spokesman Mark Hayes is quoted in the Global Security Newswire as saying this is the first time the United States has had a comprehensive biological weapons engagement with Kazakhstan.

Kazakhstan has not signed the 1975 convention banning biological weapons.

More information about the convention is available on the Internet at http://www.opbw.org/

(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

This page printed from: http://usinfo.state.gov/xarchives/display.html?p=washfile-english&y=2004&m=December&x=20041210164121sjhtrop0.1929132&t=livefeeds/wf-latest.html