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US-EU Declaration on Enhancing Cooperation in the Field of Non
Proliferation and the Fight Against Terrorism, June 20, 2005
Promoting international peace and security is of vital
importance to the United States and the European Union. People all
over the world should have freedom from fear and want and live in
dignity. Societies have become more interconnected and more
interdependent. And as the events of September 11, 2001 and March
11, 2004 show, the United States and the European Union have also
become more vulnerable to threats which are more diverse, less
visible, and less predictable.
Fighting terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass
destruction, coupled with the risk that such weapons could be
acquired by terrorists, remain our greatest security challenges. In
this context, we recall the 2004 Dromoland Castle Declarations on
Combating Terrorism and on the Non-Proliferation of Weapons of Mass
Destruction, which still provide the framework for our cooperation.
We are fully committed to strengthen and support the important role
of the United Nations in assisting member states in combating both
challenges.
We reaffirm our commitment to cooperate in our efforts to combat
global terrorism in full respect of human rights, fundamental
freedoms and the rule of law, and to address the underlying
conditions that terrorists can seize to recruit and exploit to
their advantage. We pledge to intensify our efforts to strengthen
international cooperation to encourage the global and effective
implementation of UN conventions and protocols on terrorism. We
also work together with a view to adopting the Comprehensive
Convention Against Terrorism. We broadly support the principles of
the comprehensive counter-terrorism strategy as proposed by UNSG
Annan at the Madrid Conference in March 2005.
Our bilateral cooperation extends to developing comprehensive
and efficient border security processes, more secure travel
documents, contacts between our law enforcement agencies and
improved information-sharing abilities. We will reinforce and
expand our cooperation in the fight against terrorist financing. We
will continue to strengthen the abilities of our legal systems to
prosecute terrorists and will enhance our judicial cooperation in
criminal matters. We will also continue our work to enhance the
capacities of other countries to combat terrorism.
We will further strengthen measures against the proliferation of
weapons of mass destruction by state and non-state actors. In this
context, we reaffirm our support for the Nuclear Non Proliferation
Treaty and will continue to work together to strengthen it. We
pledge to intensify our collaboration and coordination in promoting
strict implementation of and compliance with relevant treaties,
agreements and commitments on non proliferation. We will enhance
the security of weapons-usable materials, facilities, and
technology. We reaffirm also our willingness to work together to
strengthen and universalise the disarmament and non-proliferation
treaties and regimes that ban the proliferation of weapons of mass
destruction and their delivery systems.
We will assist other states around the world to build stronger
legal, regulatory, enforcement and other institutional capacity
against proliferation. And we will work for more effective
responses to address proliferation threats and prevent or remedy
non-compliance. Our shared commitment to address proliferation
threats is reflected in the "US-EU Joint Programme of Work on the
Non-proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction.
We remain united in our determination to see the proliferation
implications of Iran's advanced nuclear program resolved. 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. As those discussions proceed, we urge Iran to abide fully
by the terms of the November 2004 Paris Agreement and by the
November 2004 IAEA Board of Governors resolution, including the
need to suspend fully and verifiably all enrichment-related and
reprocessing activities. We reiterate the need for Iran to
cooperate fully with IAEA requests for information and access, to
comply fully with all IAEA Board requirements and resolve all
outstanding issues related to its nuclear programme. Finally we
call on Iran to ratify without delay the Additional Protocol and,
pending its ratification, to act in accordance with its
provisions.
We note with deep concern the DPRK's nuclear weapons program and
its 10 February statement that it has manufactured nuclear weapons.
The DPRK has clearly violated its commitments under the NPT and its
IAEA safeguards agreement and other international non-proliferation
agreements. The DPRK must comply fully with its non-proliferation
obligations, and dismantle its nuclear weapons and nuclear weapons
programs in a permanent, transparent, thorough, and verifiable
manner. We stress that the Korean Peninsula should be free from
nuclear weapons, the security and stability on the Peninsula be
maintained and the nuclear issue be peacefully resolved through
dialogue and negotiations. We fully reaffirm our support for the
Six-Party Talks and believe this represents an important
opportunity to achieve a comprehensive solution to the
denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
Source: The White House, http://www.whitehouse.gov.
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© 2005 The Acronym Institute.
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