AUSTRIA
PERMANENT MISSION OF AUSTRIA
TO THE UNITED NATIONS
Check against delivery
Third NPT Preparatory Committee Meeting 1999
Nuclear Disarmament
Statement by
Mr. Willy KEMPEL
Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Vienna
New York, 12 Mai 1999
823 UNITED NATIONS PLAZA, 8TH FL., NEW YORK, N.Y. 10017' TEL: (212) 949~1840 'FAX:(212)953-1302
Third NPT Preparatory
Committee Meeting 1999
Nuclear Disarmament
Austrian Statement
Mr Chairman,
Let me start by congratulating you on your assumption of your important office, and let me pledge our full support to you for achieving a successful outcome of this meeting. At the same time, I would like to fully associate myself to the statement read out by the European Union Presidency.
When looking at today's world of arms control and disarmament, we still feel inclined to repeat what we have stated repeatedly over the last years: it is a mixed picture. Efforts have been made by nuclear weapons states to reduce their arsenals, and we applaud the real cuts achieved over the period between 1995 and today. The START process continues to be the most important way to achieve the largest cuts in the largest arsenals. The non-proliferation agenda is intact, and continuos strengthening of the process has to be seen as keeping up with the path of new developments. More nuclear material is taken out of military use, and negotiations continue on elaborating binding arrangements for its final disposal or civilian use. Guidelines have been established for the use of plutonium. The CTBT has been adopted, and the CTBTO PrepCom as well as the Provisional Technical Secretariat have taken up their work in Vienna. The first conference of ratifying states under Article XIV will take place later in the year in Vienna to look for ways and means how to achieve early entry into force of the treaty. The Conference on disarmament has adopted a mandate on a FMCT committee. The international community has taken a strong vote at last year's United Nations General Assembly when a majority of its member states supported the resolution on the so-called New Agenda.
Wile recognising these positive trends and developments as well as endeavours, only limited progress can be acknowledged in a variety of important areas. The START process is continuing, but the legal obligations under the START II agreement have not entered into force yet. Not enough information is available on the plans for future reductions in nuclear arsenals , on the content of on-going consultations on a START-Ill agreement, on ways and means how to secure existing stocks against the Y-2K-issue or other security hazards, and on other related areas of interest for the international community. The discussions on the management of fissile material coming out of military use have not yet reached the level of binding understandings. The content of the New Agenda resolution, whilst expressing the wish of the overwhelming majority of the world community, has not led to real progress yet. The nuclear tests conducted in South Asia in May of last year have created concerns for the international community, and were referred to in UN-SC Resolution 1172. The entry into force of the CTBT seems still some time away, awaiting the signatures and ratifications of all 44 countries on the list whose ratification is necessary for the entry into force of the treaty. And in light of these mixed developments, we see the urgent need to put the agenda straight in order to allow for international leadership on such crucial issues, and use the years to come to achieve crucial progress.
Mr Chairman,
In this regard, let me focus on some of the most important issues that would allow for such progress to be achieved:
· use the momentum generated by the scheduled conference under Art. XIV of the CTBT to work for the achievement of the largest possible number of signatures and ratifications prior to the its holding, in order to underline the clear direction the international community is willing to take, furnish the CTBTO PrepCom with the budgetary means to continue the build-up of the CTBT verification system with determination so as to allow for the speedy and full implementation of this task,
· allow for transparency and information sharing on intended further cuts of nuclear arsenals as well as on how to cope with imminent security hazards, in order to satisfy the justified security concerns of the international community
· redouble efforts to achieve further cuts in the strategic arsenals of the United States and the Russian Federation, whereby interim measures could allow for advancement of the process in real terms, while up-holding the necessity for implementing existing and negotiating additional treaties,
· allow for the establishment of the FMCT committee in the frame-work of the CD as soon as possible, in order to tackle this important question in the very near future, and consider transparency measures on fissile material as a lead-in to the future treaty regime,
· implement the Additional Protocol to existing IAEA safeguards agreements in line with NPT obligations under Article 111.1,
· reach binding understandings in the near future on the management of the fissile material being taken out of military use,
· establish a multilateral forum on nuclear disarmament in the frame-work of the Conference on Disarmament.
These are some of our ideas that we wanted to share with you in this context, and we are looking forward to identify ways and means for advancing them in the near future. Before closing let me refer to the statement delivered by the Delegation of Ireland on behalf of the New Agenda Coalition. It contains suggestions and proposals for steps towards the ultimate elimination of nuclear weapons to which we fully subscribe.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.