On April 12, 2021, Pretoria, South Africa hosted an International Conference to mark the 25th anniversary of the signing of the African Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone Treaty (Pelindaba Treaty).

At the opening of the event, Mr. Nuran Niyazaliev, First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kyrgyz Republic, spoke by video link in his capacity as Coordinator of the Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone in Central Asia.

In his video message, Mr. Niyazaliev congratulated the event participants on the anniversary of the signing of the Pelindaba Treaty, noting its important role in strengthening regional and international peace and security, expanding the global regime of nuclear-weapon-free zones, promoting the goals of nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

He also briefed on the history of the signing by the Central Asian states of the Treaty on a Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone in Central Asia in September 2006
in Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan, which entered into force on 21 March 2009.
Mr. Niyazaliev emphasized that, taking into account the role and contribution of Kyrgyz diplomacy in the creation of a nuclear-weapon-free zone in the region, the Kyrgyz Republic was appointed as the Depositary of both the Treaty itself and its Protocol. Currently, the Kyrgyz Republic also acts as a Coordinator in the Central Asian Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone.

The First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kyrgyz Republic reported that on May 6, 2014, five nuclear powers - Great Britain, China, Russia, the United States and France simultaneously signed the Protocol on Negative Security Assurances to the Treaty on the Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone in Central Asia, by which they guarantee not to use, or threaten to use, nuclear weapons against the States Parties of the Treaty. Noting that up today the document has been ratified by Great Britain, China, Russia and France, Mr. Niyazaliev expressed hope that the United States will also ratify as soon as possible.