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STATEMENT

by

Ambassador Dr. Günther Seibert
Permanent Representative of the Federal Republic of Germany
to the Conference on Disarmament
at the second session of the Preparatory Committee
of the 2000 Review Conference of the Parties
to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons

Geneva, 29 April 1998

Mr. Chairman,

Let me first express my great satisfaction to see you in the chair of the Second Meeting of the Preparatory Committee for the NPT Review Conference in the year 2000. I am convinced that your diplomatic skills and your professional experience will greatly help us to achieve substantial progress at this crucial stage of the strengthened NPT review process. I would also like to pay tribute to your distinguished predecessor, Ambassador Patokallio. Under his skilful chairmanship, the first meeting of the Preparatory Committee was able to build a solid foundation for our future work within the strengthened review process.

The preparations for the 2000 Review Conference have now reached a decisive stage. The first meeting of the Preparatory Committee has created a framework for our future work and has reiterated and further strengthened the basic consensus among states parties as laid down in the treaty itself and in the "Principles and Objectives" of 1995. The objective of this second meeting should be to widen this consensus considerably and to reach agreement, as far as possible, on the basic structure and substantive content of the Preparatory Committee's recommendations to the Review Conference. This would enable the Preparatory Committee, at its third meeting, to finalise a balanced and forward-looking substantive report. This would create favourable conditions for a successful outcome of the Review Conference, to which the German Government attaches utmost importance. Mr. Chairman, the German Delegation will fully support you in this endeavour.

Mr. Chairman,

The Non-Proliferation Treaty has already achieved a very high degree of universality, hardly paralleled by any other international agreement. Since the last meeting of the Preparatory Committee, Brazil has declared its intention to accede to the treaty. Germany warmly welcomes this decision as a further important step towards the goal of full universality. The attainment of this goal, as difficult as it may seem at the present stage, must remain the overriding priority of all states parties.

We trust that the conclusion of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, even before its entry into force, marks the definitive end, for all times, of nuclear test explosions. Germany considers this Treaty to be an historic step towards nuclear disarmament as well as nuclear non-proliferation and calls upon all states, in particular on those with nuclear capabilities, to accede to this treaty as early as possible. Germany welcomes the recent ratification by two nuclear-weapon states, France and the United Kingdom, as an important step towards universal adherence to this treaty. The German ratification procedure is also well underway and will be concluded shortly. The conditions for entry into force of this treaty are, however, very exacting and will require considerable efforts by the signatory states and by the international community as a whole. According to the provisions of the treaty, the conference on the entry into force of the treaty is to take place soon. Germany intends to participate actively in this conference and in its preparations and hopes that the deliberations at this conference will pave the way for a timely entry into force of the treaty.

Mr. Chairman,

Although full universality of the NPT remains to be achieved and there are still reasons for concern in the area of compliance, the non-proliferation treaty has achieved an historic success in containing the spread of nuclear weapons. The ultimate goal of non-proliferation, however, is and must be to free the world completely of the threat of nuclear war. The determined pursuit of nuclear disarmament as laid down in Article 6 of the treaty and reaffirmed in the "Principles and Objectives" is therefore, in the view of the German Government, one of the basic goals and central obligations of all states parties and of the nuclear-weapon states in particular.

Important progress has been achieved in past years, both unilaterally and bilaterally, in the reduction of existing nuclear arsenals. The priority for the immediate future must be to implement fully the agreements already concluded. Germany remains committed to substantial and long term co-operation with Russia and Ukraine in order to facilitate safe and punctual fulfilment of existing disarmament obligations. Co-operative threat reduction builds transparency and confidence.

Beyond securing full and timely implementation of existing obligations we need negotiations on further far-reaching disarmament measures. Germany therefore attaches highest importance to the earliest possible entry into force of the START II agreement and the immediate commencement of START Ill negotiations. Germany welcomes the agreements reached last year in Geneva with regard to the ABM Treaty as an important step in this direction.

A START III agreement would be a major step towards creating the conditions for negotiations among all nuclear-weapon states on global reductions of nuclear arms which would ultimately lead to negotiations on the total elimination of nuclear weapons.

Before this stage is reached, however, the primary responsibility for nuclear disarmament ties with those states which possess these weapons. Nuclear disarmament is however also a matter of vital interest to all nations of this world. The Non-Proliferation Treaty, in its preamble, calls upon all states to co-operate in the attainment of this objective. Germany therefore considers it appropriate and legitimate that discussions should take place in the multilateral fora devoted to disarmament on how member states can contribute to effective measures in the field of nuclear disarmament.

Germany welcomes the recent decision by the Conference on Disarmament to entrust the President of the Conference with the task to further intensify consultations in the field of nuclear disarmament. Germany intends to participate constructively in a thorough and comprehensive discussion of how the Conference on Disarmament can realistically contribute to effective measures related to nuclear disarmament. Germany is willing to discuss with an open mind all constructive proposals put forward in these consultations. A number of proposals have already been made that do indeed merit, in our view, closer examination.

The German Government strongly believes that the most promising multilateral step in nuclear disarmament would be the immediate commencement and early conclusion of negotiations on a non-discriminatory and universally applicable cut-off treaty. This is one of the three steps of the programme of action of nuclear disarmament foreseen in the Principles and Objectives of 1995. It is clear that such a ban on the production of fissile material for nuclear weapons or other explosive devices will have to be an essential part of any programme of nuclear disarmament. The present situation, where all nuclear-weapon states are willing to negotiate such a treaty and where, in particular, the two major nuclear powers have a surplus of relevant fissile material, has created a window of opportunity to negotiate a treaty which would make the existing de facto moratoria on fissile material production legally binding, universal and irreversible. Germany looks forward to a detailed and substantive debate of all issues connected with such a fissile material cut-off in the context of the presidential consultations on nuclear disarmament at the Conference on Disarmament. Germany appeals to all states parties of the NPT to contribute actively to the goal of early cut-off negotiations at the Conference on Disarmament.

Germany also welcomes the decision by the Conference on Disarmament to re-establish an ad-hoc committee on nuclear security assurances. While welcoming the Security Council resolution of 1995 and the unilateral declarations made by the nuclear-weapon states in this context, Germany has always maintained that further strengthening of security assurances is a legitimate interest of non-nuclear-weapon states and should continue to be on the international disarmament agenda. Germany also welcomes the special attention given to this issue at this meeting of the Preparatory Committee, as this is a matter of particular interest to those states that have undertaken legally binding commitments not to possess nuclear weapons. One of the important objectives of the Review Conference must be to consider the progress hopefully made on this issue until the year 2000 and to discuss possible future steps to be taken in this area.

In the field of security assurances, nuclear-weapon-free zones have played a particularly important role. A large and increasing number of non-nuclear-weapon states profit from negative security assurances contained in the relevant protocols to the treaties constituting such zones. We believe that developments since 1995 further strengthen the conviction expressed in the Principles and Objectives that the establishment of internationally recognised nuclear-weapon-free zones, on the basis of arrangements freely arrived at among the states of the region concerned, enhances global and regional peace and security. Germany therefore welcomes the ongoing discussions among the states of central Asia on the establishment of a nuclear-weapon-free zone in this region. Germany also welcomes the ongoing deliberations on this subject in the Disarmament Commission. We hope that these discussions will lead to constructive and tangible results which will also serve as a useful basis for further strengthening the role and the concept of nuclear weapon-free-zones at the NPT Review Conference in the year 2000.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman