March 5 is celebrated worldwide as the International Day of Disarmament and Non-Proliferation Education, proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly on the initiative of the Kyrgyz Republic on December 7, 2022.

The Kyrgyz Republic attaches great importance to strengthening peace and security, preventing and ending armed conflicts for the benefit of the people, and raising awareness and understanding of disarmament issues among the public, especially young people.

The annual observance of the International Day is a positive impulse to enhance awareness-raising and to integrate disarmament and non-proliferation issues into existing national education programmes at various levels.

Taking into account the significance of the International Day and in order to practically implement the provisions of the resolution, high-level events are held annually in early March at the UN sites in New York, Vienna, and Geneva, together with the UN Office for Disarmament Affairs, with the participation of the UN leadership and delegations of the UN Member States.

Also, at the initiative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kyrgyz Republic and with the support of the UN Office for Disarmament Affairs, in May-June 2024 it is planned to hold open lectures for students of the Diplomatic Academy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kyrgyz Republic and the OSCE Academy in Bishkek on disarmament and non-proliferation issues.

Disarmament and non-proliferation issues are among the main priority areas for the Kyrgyz Republic in multilateral diplomacy. In December 2023, the Memorandum of understanding between the Central Asian Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone and the African Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone (OPANAL) was signed within the framework of strengthening multilateral non-proliferation arrangements. Negotiations between the parties on the draft instrument have taken place over the past four years. The signing of the Memorandum will help to develop cooperation between our zones in order to strengthen the global nuclear non-proliferation regime and consolidate international efforts to ensure peace and security.