G-8 Cites Nonproliferation Goals

By Jon Fox
Global Security Newswire

WASHINGTON — The Group of Eight nations today hailed the progress made in combating WMD proliferation over the last five years but said more work is needed (see GSN, June 1).

Five years ago, at the Kananaskis summit in Canada, G-8 leaders announced the Global Partnership against Proliferation of Weapons and Materials of Mass Destruction, a $20 billion commitment to fund nonproliferation projects through 2012 (see GSN, July 14, 2006).

Assessing the progress of those efforts this year in Germany, G-8 nations concluded in the summit statement on nonproliferation that “more has to be done to increase the efficiency of our cooperation.”

Delegates agreed to discuss a follow-up agreement to the partnership at some future date but nothing more concrete.

“We remain firmly committed to completing the Kananaskis goals,” the statement reads.  “We will discuss in due course whether the partnership should be extended beyond 2012 and if so how to allocate the means for expanding its scope to address threat reduction and nonproliferation requirements worldwide.”

The nonproliferation statement offered no surprises, said Jon Wolfsthal, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

“It reads like a fine laundry list,” he said.  The statement addresses the current pressing issues in the nonproliferation realm “but there’s nothing new here.  This doesn’t strike me a statement showing a lot of urgency.”

On the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, the statement reads: “We acknowledge that the nuclear nonproliferation regime faces serious challenges.”

The nations reaffirmed their commitment to addressing those challenges.  The statement also expresses support for treaties banning chemical and biological weapons.

On Iran, the G-8 nations stated their commitment to “resolving regional proliferation challenges by diplomatic means” and indicated they “deplore” Iran’s failure to meet U.N. demands to halt its enrichment program.

If Iran continues to flout those demands, the G-8 nations said they would “support adopting further measures.”

The statement also encourages an early start to negotiations on a fissile material cutoff treaty without indicating if nations would seek to give it a verification component.  It urges states to continue a moratorium on nuclear test explosions.

“The only thing creative in here is the language,” Wolfsthal said.  “They found ways to find diplomatic linguistic solutions where they didn’t agree.”

One place where that vague diplomatic language could indicate a lack of consensus is in the statement about a possible continuation of the Global Partnership beyond its current expiration date, he said.

The statement is also critical of the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group, a cartel of industrialized nations that controls nuclear exports.  At its most recent meeting this year, the group failed to strike a deal to strengthen controls on export of enrichment and reprocessing equipment, technology of vital concern in the struggle to quell nuclear proliferation.

“We regret that they did not reach a consensus on this issue by 2007 as called for [at the 2006 G-8 summit] in St. Petersburg,” the statement reads.

“Should the NSG not reach consensus on appropriate criteria by 2008, we will seriously consider alternative strategies to reduce the proliferation risks associated with the transfer of enrichment and reprocessing technologies.”

While nations have a right to peaceful nuclear programs under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, some of the allowed technology  — such as Iran’s uranium enrichment plant — can be a pathway to nuclear weapons as well as nuclear power.

In 2004, 2005 and 2006, the G-8 nations agreed to “not inaugurate new initiatives” involving the transfer of such technology during the following year.  Such a commitment is absent from the 2007 statement.

The absence “means they couldn’t get an agreement,” Wolfsthal said.

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