14:06, 21 April 2009 | GMT +5
Kazakh Secretary of State receives US Assistant Secretary of Defense
ASTANA. April 21. KAZINFORM. /Narymbek Ismagulov/ Secretary of State Kanat Saudabayev has received US Assistant Secretary of Defense for Global Security Affairs Joseph Benkert in Astana today.

The parties discussed the issues of cooperation in the sphere of security within the framework of the Program of Collective Threat Reduction (The Nann-Lugar-CTR).
The Secretary of State noted good dynamics of the Kazakh-US cooperation in nonproliferation of mass destruction weapons and strengthening of global security. ?We back striving of US President Barack Obama for cooperation with Kazakhstan expressed in telephone talks with the Kazakh President. Our countries can make a lot in this sphere both in bilateral and multilateral formats?, K. Saudabayev said.
According to Mr. Benkert, Kazakhstan is a leader of global scale in the sphere of nuclear nonproliferation. ?The Government of Kazakhstan plays a key role in this process. Another perspective of our cooperation is Kazakhstan?s participation in the Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism. We also back Kazakhstan?s proposal to host a nuclear fuel bank on its territory and would like to continue work in this direction?, he said.