Mayors for Peace conference might be held in Kazakhstan

Jean-Luc Dehaene, Mayor of the city of Ypres suggested to hold Mayors for Peace conference in Kazakhstan when he discussed his future visit to our country with Yerik Utembayev, Republic of Kazakhstan Ambassador to Belgium, Tengrinews.kz reports, citing KazTAG. “Meeting between Yerik Utembayev, Ambassador of Republic of Kazakhstan to Belgium and Jean-Luc Dehaene, Mayor of Belgian city of Ypres was held in the above mentioned city. The main issue discussed at the meeting was the forthcoming visit of Belgian Mayor to Kazakhstan. He suggested to hold Mayors for Peace conference in the framework of his visit to Kazakhstan,” the press-release that was sent on Tuesday reads. It is also planned to sign an agreement on twin-city relations between the Belgian city of Ypres and Kazakhstan city of Semey. “Partnership between Ypres and Semey will be quite a symbolic step. Belgian city Mayor's and International Mayors for Peace secretariat's visit and signing of the twin-city agreement will help strengthen the relations between these cities,” Utembayev said. It is also known that it was decided to hold different events during this visit not only in Semey, but in Astana and Almaty as well. Mayors for Peace is an international organization established in 1982 upon an initiative of Hiroshima and Nagasaki Mayors. The main goal of the organization is non-prolofiratiob and prevention of use of nuclear weapons all over the world, as well as getting of all world Mayors to join the Nuclear-Free World movement by 2020. It unites 5111 cities' Mayors at present.