US Mission Geneva

United States announced its planned voluntary contribution to UN nonproliferation efforts pursuant to UN Security Council resolution (UNSCR) 1540. The United States plans to contribute $3 million to the UN Trust Fund for Global and Regional Disarmament later this year.

Our preference is to negotiate the FMCT within the Conference on Disarmament, but it is becoming increasing doubtful that the Conference can achieve consensus to begin such negotiations. As a consequence, we will begin consultations with our allies and partners to consider an alternative means to begin FMCT negotiations. To be successful, we will encourage all permanent members of the Security Council and other relevant parties to participate in this effort.

In a joint statement, President Obama and Brazilian President Rousseff reaffirmed both countries’ commitments on disarmament and nuclear non-proliferation and underscored the need to bring the CTBT into force, start negotiations on a FMCT and achieve a successful Biological Weapons Review in December 2011.

Mr. President, my Secretary of State, Hillary Rodham Clinton, opened her address to the Conference on Disarmament with a tribute to your leadership and your efforts to make the Conference on Disarmament an effective tool for addressing the critical challenges we face today.

The United States Delegation is pleased to continue our discussions on the negotiation of a Fissile Material Cutoff Treaty in the Conference on Disarmament, a long overdue nonproliferation and disarmament objective of the international community.

A collection of texts and photos from the Secretary of States February 27-28, 2011 visit to Geneva.

The question before us today is whether we will – at last – agree to end the dedicated production of fissile material for use in nuclear weapons. Halting production is in the interest of every country, and I urge this conference to end the stalemate and open negotiations on a Fissile Material Cutoff Treaty without further delay.

We made a determination in this Administration to join the Human Rights Council. I think it’s proven to be a good decision because we’ve been able to influence a number of actions that we otherwise would have been on the outside looking in. There are a number of issues on that agenda that we will be working on. I will also go to the Conference on Disarmament because we continue to press for further action in accordance with President Obama’s Prague agenda. So it will be a very busy, exhausting day, but a very fruitful one for me to be there.

By all accounts, 2010 was a watershed year for nuclear arms control. In word and deed, the United States followed through on its commitment to disarmament. The U.S. Nuclear Posture Review concluded last April, fundamentally recalibrated the role of nuclear weapons in our strategic doctrine and changed U.S. declaratory policy on use of nonnuclear weapons.