US Mission Geneva

Good morning. Thank you very much Ed. This is now my third time speaking at your conference, first as a Member of Congress and now as Under Secretary of State.

MODERATOR: Ladies and gentlemen, the Secretary of State of the United States of America Hillary Rodham Clinton and the Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov are signing a protocol and exchange of instruments of ratification of the treaty between the United States of America and the Russian Federation on measures for reduction and modification of strategic offensive arms. With this exchange, the treaty will enter into force.

I have considered the United States Senate’s December 22, 2010, Resolution of Advice and Consent to Ratification of the Treaty between the United States of America and the Russian Federation on Measures for the Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms, signed in Prague on April 8, 2010, with Protocol, including Annexes (the “New START Treaty”; Treaty Document 111-5), and I hereby certify that:

Ambassador Kennedy: “A sense of commitment, a sense of urgency shared by the international community. It’s not secret, of course, that one nation who happens to be a longstanding ally and friend of the United States does not share that commitment to begin negotiations of an FMCT. We continue a dialogue with all of our partners. But in terms of Geneva and what lies ahead we will support efforts to get to an agreed program of work and agenda to start off the year.

On December 22 the United States Senate gave its advice and consent to ratification of the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty – New START – by a strong bipartisan vote of 71 to 26.

The next step will be approval by the Russian Legislature – the Duma and Federation Council – followed by an exchange of Instruments of Ratification which will bring the Treaty into force.

Clinton: Today the Senate took a great step forward in enhancing our national security by providing its advice and consent to ratification of the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty between the United States and the Russian Federation.

The lack of regular data exchanges and on-site verification measures means that our understanding of Russian missile and bomber forces will diminish over time. As General Chilton, Commander of the U.S. Strategic Command, has said: “Without New START, we would rapidly lose insight into Russian strategic nuclear force developments and activities, and our force modernization planning and hedging strategy would be more complex and more costly. Without such a regime, we would unfortunately be left to use worst-case analyses regarding our own force requirements.”

The New START Treaty Makes America More Secure. Significantly reducing – by nearly 700 – the limit on the number of strategic nuclear weapons that Russia can deploy; allowing us to keep a close eye on the remaining ones; building stability, predictability, and transparency for the two countries with 90 percent of the world’s nuclear weapons; and strengthening America’s fight against nuclear weapons falling into the hands of terrorists and rogue states.

While we do not negotiate agreements here at the First Committee, we do share views on how to move forward productively the disarmament and international security agenda. At this year’s First Committee meeting, my delegation hopes to build on last year’s successful session, and the successful events since then.