|
|||||
|
|||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||
 |
 |
    |
|
|
|||
 |
|
||
|
|||
|
|
|
|
||||||||
|
U.S., EU Leaders Pledge Continued Cooperation on Antiterrorism, WMD Nonproliferation Efforts
Stemming the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and keeping such arms out of the hands of terrorists remain the greatest security challenges to the United States and the European Union, Washington and Brussels announced in a declaration yesterday (see GSN, March 21). “We will further strengthen measures against the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction by state and nonstate actors. In this context, we reaffirm our support for the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and will continue to work together to strengthen it. We will enhance the security of weapons-usable materials, facilities, and technology,” says the statement, released following U.S. President George W. Bush’s meeting with EU leaders in Washington. Washington and Brussels also announced their commitment to resolve the standoff over Iran’s nuclear program. “Towards that end, we reconfirm our full support for the ongoing European efforts to secure Iran’s agreement to provide objective guarantees that its nuclear program is intended for exclusively peaceful purposes,” the statement says. The declaration goes on to demand that North Korea honor its obligations under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and disarm. “The D.P.R.K. has clearly violated its commitments under the NPT and its [International Atomic Energy Agency] safeguards agreement and other international nonproliferation agreements. The D.P.R.K. must comply fully with its nonproliferation obligations, and dismantle its nuclear weapons and nuclear weapons programs in a permanent, transparent, thorough, and verifiable manner,” the statement says (White House release, June 20). The message to Iran was that “we’re not going to tolerate the development of a nuclear weapon,” Bush said yesterday, Reuters reported. France, Germany and the United Kingdom remain committed to negotiations with Iran “for the time being,” said European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso. “If it’s not successful, we’ll look at the issue again,” Barroso said (Steve Holland, Reuters, June 20).
| ||||||||||
Back to top
