A special event to commemorate the International Day against Nuclear Tests was held by the Kazakhstan Embassy in China in Beijing on Aug. 29, 2014. Kazakhstan Ambassador Nurlan Yermekbayev delivered a speech at the ceremony.

"Since 1949, a total of 456 nuclear tests had been conducted at the Semipalatinsk Test Site in Kazakhstan, putting a lot of people in harm's way. Therefore, Kazakhstan has been, not only in Kazakhstan, but also on the global stage, calling for the end of nuclear tests and nuclear weapon proliferation," said Yermekbayev.

In 1993, Kazakhstan became the first country in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) to join the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT); in 1995, the country destroyed the last nuclear bomb within its territory and joined the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) the following year; in 2000, it destroyed its last nuclear weapon test tunnel.

A video clip promoting nuclear test ban was played at the ceremony and the ambassador paid a silent tribute to victims of nuclear tests along with other participants of the event. 

The Soviet Union conducted its first nuclear bomb test at the Semipalatinsk Test Site on Aug. 29, 1949. 60 years later, at the proposal of the Kazakhstan government, the United Nations passed a resolution to establish the International Day against Nuclear Tests.