TOKYO, November 8. /TASS/. The world has been slipping into a new nuclear age while the risks of using nuclear weapons are higher than they have ever been after the Cold War ended, Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbayev said addressing Japan’s upper house of parliament.

According to him, the current "unprecedented confidence crisis between the world leaders is causing the assurances of nuclear restraint to decline." "All the leaders need to muster political will in order to turn back this trend," Kazakhstan’s president said.

Nazarbayev stated that the time had come for the legislators and ordinary citizens to urge their governments to renounce nuclear weapons. "As long as the great powers continue to retain and improve their nuclear arms while preventing others from developing, testing and spreading these kinds of weapons, this issue cannot be solved," he noted. The president pointed out that Kazakhstan had voluntarily decided to renounce nuclear arms and facilitated the establishment of a nuclear-free zone.

Nazarbayev is now on an official visit to Japan, he has already met with Emperor Akihito and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. He has also taken part in a business forum where contracts worth $1.2 bln were signed. On Wednesday, he is expected to visit Hiroshima, one of the two Japanese cities that suffered terrible damage from the US nuclear bombings back in 1945.

Japan has been placing much importance on relations with the Central Asian countries. A governmental delegation headed by Shinzo Abe visited Kazakhstan last October.