Media Release
1 June, 2009
Australia Welcomes Agreement to Negotiate a Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty
I welcome the agreement reached by the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva to begin negotiations on a treaty banning the production of fissile material for nuclear weapons.
The Conference on Disarmament, made up of 65 members including the United States, China, Russia, Israel, Pakistan and India, is the world's sole multilateral disarmament treaty negotiating body.
The decision to negotiate a Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty (FMCT) follows a period of ten years of stagnation and inactivity in the Conference.
This move reflects a growing international consensus on the need to act against the spread of nuclear weapons - a debate that has been reinvigorated by renewed engagement on the part of the new Obama Administration and efforts such as the International Commission on Non-Proliferation and Disarmament, co-chaired by former Australian Foreign Minister Gareth Evans and former Japanese Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi.
The negotiation of an FMCT has long been an Australian foreign policy objective because of its clear benefits for both nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation.
Such a treaty would constrain those states already possessing nuclear weapons from expanding their arsenals and would-be nuclear proliferators from developing the material for nuclear weapons.
A ban on the material necessary to fuel nuclear weapons would complement other disarmament and non-proliferation initiatives such as the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty.
The recent nuclear weapon test by North Korea has made negotiation of a Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty and the entry into force of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty all the more urgent.
Australia will work with all member states in the Conference to lay the groundwork for successful negotiations, likely to begin either later this year or early next year.
Australia's Ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, Ms Caroline Millar, will assume the Presidency of the Conference on Disarmament from 29 June.
Media inquiries:
- Mr Smith's office 02 6277 7500
- Departmental Media Liaison 02 6261 1555