Statement by the Press Secretary on U.S. contribution to the United Nations Trust Fund for Global and Regional Disarmament

The United States announced this morning that it will make a voluntary contribution of $3 million this year to the United Nations Trust Fund for Global and Regional Disarmament to aid in preventing the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

United Nations Security Council Resolution 1540 is an important tool for preventing access to the materials and resources needed to acquire or develop the world’s most dangerous weapons and the means to deliver them.  Ensuring the Resolution’s effective implementation through the work of the Committee established pursuant to UNSCR 1540 is an important objective of U.S. non-proliferation and counter-terrorism policies.   The 1540 Committee helps countries around the world design, adopt, and enforce laws prohibiting the spread of WMD to non-state actors, and enforce effective measures to control transfers of WMD, their means of delivery, related materials, funding, and contributing services.  The U.S. contribution is intended to support the vital work of the 1540 Committee, in keeping with the President’s commitment at the 2010 Nuclear Security Summit to help countries meet the obligations UNSCR 1540 places on them, and to match them up with a wide range of national, international, and nongovernmental sources of assistance.