Joint Statement of the People’s Republic of China, France, the Russian Federation, The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United States of America at the UN General Assembly
Follow-up to the High Level Meeting Held on 24 September 2010:
Revitalizing the Work of the Conference on Disarmament
and Taking Forward Multilateral Disarmament Negotiations
NEW YORK,
27 JULY 2011
Monsieur le Président,
Monsieur le Secrétaire général,
Mesdames et Messieurs les Ministres,
Excellences, Mesdames et Messieurs,
Allow me, Mr. Secretary General, on behalf of the People’s Republic of China, France, the Russian Federation, The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United States of America, to thank you for convening this follow-up meeting to the High Level Meeting held on 24 September last year. We welcome the personal commitment and leadership you have shown on disarmament and non-proliferation. We fully support your continuing efforts to revitalize the work of the Conference on Disarmament. We are deeply concerned by its long-running stalemate and lack of progress since last year’s meeting. It is crucial to reaffirm the negotiating role of the CD and to allow it to resume its substantive work without delay.
Ten months after the High Level Meeting, today’s follow-up meeting is a timely opportunity to reflect on the situation of the disarmament machinery and consider ways to make further progress on disarmament, international peace and security.
We welcome the numerous positive developments in the area of arms control, disarmament and non-proliferation in the recent years. In particular, the adoption of a concrete and balanced Action Plan on all 3 pillars of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) by the NPT Review Conference in 2010 has shown the international community’s firm commitment to reinforce the international nuclear non-proliferation regime and address nuclear issues with a global and pragmatic approach. Now, all State parties must work together to advance the implementation of the NPT Action Plan.
In this context, the P5 States are strongly determined to assume their responsibilities and play their part. At the High Level Meeting last year in September, France committed to organize the first P5 Follow-up Meeting to the 2010 NPT Review Conference. Accordingly, on June 30th and July 1st, the P5 met in Paris, at Directors General and expert level, with a view to consider progress on the commitments they made at the NPT Review Conference and to contribute to the preparation of the next NPT review cycle. They discussed a wide range of issues relating to nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation.
It was the second time that t
he P5 got together in this format with this agenda. The first was the London Conference on Confidence-building Measures in 2009. The Paris Conference was therefore a significant and vital opportunity to further build mutual trust and confidence on nuclear matters. We’d like to share with you the general outcomes of our discussions, which were reflected in the Final Joint Press Statement issued at the end of the Conference.
As Nuclear Weapons States, we discussed how we intend to meet our disarmament obligations under the NPT, including engagement on the efforts called for in the 2010 NPT Action Plan, particularly the steps outlined in Action 5, as well as reporting and other efforts. We continued our previous discussions on the issues of transparency and mutual confidence, including nuclear doctrine and capabilities, and on verification. Such measures are important for establishing a firm foundation for further disarmament efforts.
We also shared views on measures to uphold the NPT’s non-proliferation pillar, to include how to respond to notifications of withdrawal from the NPT, while recognising the provisions of Article X, and stressed the need to strengthen IAEA safeguards, including through promoting the adoption of the Additional Protocol and the reinforcement of IAEA’s resources and capabilities for deterring and detecting non-compliance.
All States, NPT Parties and non-Parties, must contribute to fulfilling the overall objective of disarmament, by creating the necessary security environment, resolving regional tensions, promoting collective security, ensuring that the international nuclear non-proliferation regime remains robust and reliable, and making progress in all the areas of disarmament.
We are convinced that, as the sole standing multilateral disarmament negotiating forum of the international community, the CD should maintain the primary role in substantive negotiations on priority questions of disarmament.
We urge all CD Member States to agree without delay on a comprehensive and balanced program of work allowing the CD to resume its substantive work.
We recognise that one key element in the effective implementation of Article VI of the NPT and in the prevention of nuclear proliferation is the negotiation of a Fissile-Material Cut-Off Treaty. An FMCT would help cut off the most important building blocks needed for nuclear weapons. We reiterate our support for immediate commencement of negotiations at the CD on an FMCT, including verification provisions.
In order to sustain the potential of negotiations in the CD, the P5 will, prior to the next UNGA, renew their efforts with other relevant partners to promote such negotiations.
Furthermore, the P5 recall their commitment to promote and ensure the swift entry into force of the CTBT and its universalization./.