Sixty years after convening its first meeting, Pugwash held its 62nd conference in Astana, the capital city of Kazakhstan, from August 25-29, 2017. While IDN-INPS Editor-in-Chief and Director-General explains the significance of this landmark international gathering hosted by Kazakhstan, the video captures important milestones of the opening day with a film explaining the history of the nuclear age until today and one speaker after another stressing the compelling need for undertaking every effort to usher in a world free of nuclear weapons.
Recorded are the remarks, among others, of Former UN Under-Secertary-General Pugwash President Jayantha Dhanapala, Kazakh Parliament Senate Chairman Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs Izumi Nakamitsu. CTBTO Executive Secretary Lassina Zerbo, Jennifer Allen Simons, President of The Simons Foundation Canada; Former UN Under-Secretary-General Sergio Duarte; Ambassador Elaine Whyte Gómez of Costa Rica, President of the UN Conference to negotiate a legally binding instrument to prohibit nuclear weapons, leading to their total elimination, and Christine Muttonen of Austria, President of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly.