Astana joins Mayors for Peace Organization

Mayor Thore Vestby, from the City of Frogn, Norway and Aaron Tovish, International Director of the 2020 Vision Campaign handed Astana Mayor Imangali Tasmagambetov a certificate of Mayors for Peace Organization, the akimat's press service said.

Mayors for Peace is an international organization of cities, dedicated for the promotion of peace that was established in 1982 at the initiative of then mayor of Hiroshima.

Tasmagambetov stressed that one of the first decisions President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev made after gaining the country's sovereignty was a decree to shut down the Semipalatinsk nuclear testing range.

"Voluntarily abandoning its nuclear arsenal Kazakhstan contributed greatly to strengthening peace," Tasmagambetov said.

In his turn, Thore Vestby said that Astana is the 110th capital to join the Mayors for Peace Organization. "I am very glad to present you the certificate signed by the President of the Organization, Hiroshima Mayor Matsui Kazumi," he added.

Thore Vestby and Aaron Tovish arrived in Astana to participate in the international conference to be held in the capital of Kazakhstan.