India backs UN push for global disarmament

UNITED NATIONS - India has strongly backed UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon’s push for efforts to rid the world of weapons of mass destruction with the Conference on Disarmament (CD) giving it political impetus.

“India remains committed to the objective and vision of Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s Action Plan of 1988 for ushering in a nuclear weapon free and non-violent world order,” External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna told a high-level meeting here Friday on revitalising the conference’s work.

“It is a painful reality that this has remained a distant goal, not least due to the continued opposition to negotiations on nuclear disarmament, in the Conference on Disarmament,” he said.

The meeting, held on the margins of the annual high-level debate of the General Assembly, also addressed how to advance multilateral disarmament negotiations.

Associating India with the statement made on behalf of the Non-Aligned Movement, Krishna noted that the Conference on Disarmament decided by consensus in May 2009 to start immediate negotiations on a Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty.

India supported such negotiations without prejudice to India’s principled position on other agenda items, in particular the priority issue of nuclear disarmament, he said.

Expressing disappointment that the CD has been prevented from undertaking its primary task of negotiating multilateral treaties, Krishna reaffirmed India’s support for the CD as the single multilateral negotiating forum, recognized as such by the international community.

India also supported the immediate commencement of FMCT negotiations in the CD as part of its Programme of work in early 2011.

Recalling that the Final Document of the First Special session on Disarmament accorded nuclear disarmament the highest priority, Krishna called for intensification of dialogue amongst UN member states for strengthening the international consensus on disarmament and non-proliferation.

Ban also urged countries to build on recent achievements in the field of disarmament and to step up efforts to rid the world of weapons of mass destruction.

“We all believe that the multilateral disarmament machinery should deliver more, and more quickly. Only the political will of Member States can make that happen,” he said.

Ban recalled recent progress on the issue, including initiatives at both multilateral and bilateral levels such as the new Treaty on the Limitation and Reduction of Strategic Offensive Arms, or START, signed by the United States and Russia.

“We have built important momentum. This is hard-won momentum and we should build on recent achievements,” he said.