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G8 Statement on Non-Proliferation, Gleneagles Summit, July 6 - 8, 2005

GLENEAGLES STATEMENT ON NON-PROLIFERATION

1. We acknowledge, as we did at Evian and Sea Island, that the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and their delivery means, together with international terrorism, remain the pre-eminent threats to international peace and security. The threat of the use of WMD by terrorists calls for redoubled efforts.

2. All States have a role to play in meeting the challenge of WMD proliferation by upholding international arms control, disarmament and non-proliferation norms. All must meet their obligations in full, and ensure effective implementation. We reaffirm our commitments in this regard. And we emphasise our determination to meet proliferation challenges decisively, through both national efforts and effective multilateralism.

3. At Sea Island, we agreed an Action Plan on Non-Proliferation. During the past year, we have worked intensively with our international partners on all its aspects.

Universalising and reinforcing the non-proliferation regime

4. Multilaterally agreed norms provide an essential basis for our non-proliferation efforts. We strongly support universal adherence to and compliance with these norms. We will work to strengthen them, including through improved verification and enforcement. We call on all States not party to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, an IAEA Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement and Additional Protocol, the Chemical Weapons Convention, the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention, the 1925 Geneva Protocol and the Hague Code of Conduct Against the Proliferation of Ballistic Missiles, to accede without delay. We remain ready to assist States to this end.

5. We welcome the agreement by the international community of the International Convention on the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism, initiated by the Russian Federation. We look forward to its early entry into force.

United Nations

6. We acknowledge the role of the UN Security Council in addressing the challenges of proliferation. We welcome the fact that the majority of UN members have responded to UNSCR 1540 by submitting reports on their domestic nonproliferation provisions including export controls, and their contribution to international co-operation. We urge those who have not yet done so to submit reports without delay. It is essential that all states meet their obligations in full, by enacting and enforcing national legal and regulatory measures including appropriate criminal and civil penalties for violations, and by committing to international co-operation on non-proliferation. We stand ready to consider all requests from states seeking to develop their national procedures. We urge the 1540 Committee to work quickly and effectively, drawing on the support of relevant international organisations. We also urge the Security Council to consider how best to ensure that the work of the committee makes an enduring contribution to non-proliferation.

7. We welcome the attention given to non-proliferation by the UN Secretary General in his report "In Larger Freedom". We stand ready to engage actively at the meeting of Heads of State and Government for the High Level Plenary Event of the General Assembly in September. We acknowledge the role of the Conference on Disarmament in advancing our non-proliferation and disarmament objectives and call on it to resume substantive work.

8. We look forward to strengthening the Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Maritime Navigation (SUA) by State Parties at the Diplomatic Conference in October.

Proliferation Security Initiative

9. We reaffirm our commitment to the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) and its Statement of Interdiction Principles, which is a global response to a global problem. We welcome the increasing international endorsement for the Initiative. We call on all States to commit themselves to deepen co-operation in order to counter trafficking in WMD, delivery means and related materials.

10. We also call for enhanced efforts to combat proliferation networks and illicit financial flows by developing, on an appropriate legal basis, co-operative procedures to identify, track and freeze relevant financial transactions and assets.

Nuclear Non-Proliferation

Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT)

11. We emphasise that the NPT remains the cornerstone of nuclear non-proliferation. We reaffirm our full commitment to all three pillars of the Treaty. While we note with regret that it was not possible to achieve consensus at the 2005 Review Conference, we welcome the fact that all States Parties reaffirmed the validity of the Treaty. We remain determined that threats and challenges to the nuclear nonproliferation regime be addressed on the basis of the NPT. For our part, we pledge ourselves to redouble our efforts to uphold and strengthen the Treaty.

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)

12. Safeguards are an essential tool for the effective implementation of the NPT. We reaffirm our full support for the IAEA. We are working for the implementation of a Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement and the Additional Protocol to become the universally accepted norm for verifying compliance with NPT safeguards obligations. The Additional Protocol must become an essential new standard in the field of nuclear supply arrangements. We will continue to work together to strengthen NSG guidelines accordingly. We welcome the establishment of the Committee on Safeguards and Verification, which will review the IAEA's ability to ensure compliance with NPT obligations and safeguards Agreements in the light of recent non-proliferation challenges.

Enrichment and Reprocessing Technology

13. Since Sea Island, we have worked to develop further measures to prevent the export of sensitive nuclear items with proliferation potential to states that may seek to use them for weapons purposes or allow them to fall into terrorist hands, while allowing the world to enjoy safely the benefits of peaceful nuclear technology. We agreed at Sea Island that the export of such items should occur only pursuant to criteria consistent with global non-proliferation norms and to states rigorously committed to these norms. Over the past year, we have made progress in the development of such criteria. We welcome the decision at the recent Plenary Session of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) to work actively with a view to reaching consensus on this issue. In aid of this process, we continue to agree, as we did at Sea Island, that it would be prudent in the next year not to inaugurate new initiatives involving transfer of enrichment and reprocessing technologies to additional states. We continue to call on all states to adopt this strategy of prudence. We also welcome the adoption by the NSG of important measures which restrict nuclear transfers to States which have violated their non-proliferation and safeguards obligations.

14. We believe that strengthened conditions on the supply of sensitive technology should be accompanied by new measures to ensure that those states which forgo the nuclear fuel cycle and meet all nuclear non-proliferation obligations enjoy assured access to the market for nuclear fuel and related services. We welcome the efforts of the Expert Group, established by the Director-General of the IAEA, which has recently reported on possible Multinational Approaches to the Fuel Cycle. We will work together with all interested partners for a way forward which provides genuine access while minimising the risks of proliferation.

Proliferation Challenges

15. The example of Libya's important renunciation of weapons of mass destruction demonstrates that the international community responds positively to States which desire to be a part of the global non-proliferation mainstream. In this spirit, we are working with determination to address current proliferation challenges.

16. We express profound concern over the threat posed by DPRK's nuclear weapons programme, particularly following its recent statements that it has manufactured nuclear weapons and in the light of its missile programmes and history of missile proliferation. The DPRK has violated its commitments under the NPT and its IAEA safeguards agreement. We reiterate the necessity for the DPRK promptly to return to full compliance with the NPT, and dismantle all its nuclear weaponsrelated programmes in a complete, verifiable and irreversible manner. It is also essential that the DPRK not contribute to missile proliferation elsewhere, and maintain indefinitely its moratorium on the launching of missiles. We reaffirm our full support for the Six-Party talks, which represent an important opportunity to achieve a comprehensive solution. It is essential that the DPRK return to the Six Party Talks immediately without preconditions, and participate constructively to this end.

17. We remain united in our determination to see the proliferation implications of Iran's advanced nuclear programme resolved. It is essential that Iran provide the international community with objective guarantees that its nuclear programme is exclusively for peaceful purposes in order to build international confidence. We welcome the initiative of France, Germany and the United Kingdom, and the High Representative of the European Union to reach agreement with Iran on long-term arrangements which would provide such objective guarantees as well as political and economic co-operation. We call upon Iran to maintain the suspension of all enrichment- related and reprocessing activities while negotiations on the long term arrangements proceed. We reiterate the need for Iran to co-operate fully with IAEA requests for information and access, to comply fully with all IAEA Board requirements, and to resolve all outstanding issues related to its nuclear programme. We also urge Iran to ratify the Additional Protocol without delay and, pending its ratification, to act fully in accordance with its provisions.

Defending against biological threats

18. We reaffirm our strong commitment to strengthening our defences against biological threats. Over the last year, our efforts have focussed on enhancing protection of the food supply. We will continue efforts to address biological threats and support work in other relevant international groups.

19. This year marks the 30th anniversary of the entry into force of the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention. New biological threats mean that full compliance with the Convention remains as relevant today as it was at its inception. We encourage States Party to take a full part in the ongoing programme of work which this year will discuss the content, promulgation and adoption of codes of conduct for scientists. Further, we look forward to a substantive and forward-looking Review Conference in 2006.

20. 2005 also marks the 80th anniversary of the opening for signature of the 1925 Geneva Protocol prohibiting the use in war of asphyxiating, poisonous or other gases and bacteriological methods of warfare. We emphasise the continuing vital relevance of this multilateral rejection of the use in war of chemical and biological weapons.

Chemical Weapons Convention

21. We continue to support full implementation of the Chemical Weapons Convention, including its non-proliferation aspects. While acknowledging the obligation to destroy chemical weapons within the time limits provided for by the chemical weapons convention and to destroy or convert chemical weapons production facilities, we recall that States Party agreed in 2003 to an Action Plan which requires all to have national implementing measures in place by the time of the Conference of States Party scheduled for this November. We urge those States Party who have not yet done so to take all necessary steps to ensure the deadline is met. We stand ready to provide appropriate assistance. We support the use of consultations and cooperation, as well as fact-finding, verification, and compliance measures, including, if necessary, challenge inspections, as provided in the CWC.

Global Partnership against Proliferation of Weapons and Materials of Mass Destruction

22. We reaffirm our commitment to the Global Partnership against the Proliferation of Weapons and materials of Mass Destruction, and to the Kananaskis Statement, Principles, and Guidelines. We will work to build on the considerable progress we have made to implement co-operative projects to which the G8 and thirteen other countries now contribute. We renew our pledge to raise up to $20 billion over ten years to 2012 for Global Partnership priorities, initially in Russia. In this context, we will embark on new projects according to these priorities. We welcome Ukraine's participation, and continue to discuss with a number of countries of the Former Soviet Union their interest in joining the Partnership. We reaffirm our openness in principle to a further expansion of the Partnership to donor and recipient partners which support the Kananaskis documents.

Nuclear Safety and Security

23. We welcome continued co-operation with the IAEA in the area of nuclear and radiological safety and security, including on strengthening regulatory infrastructures and the interface between safety and security. We support the establishment of the Global Threat Reduction Initiative and welcome the progress which has been made so far. We welcome the results of the IAEA's International Conference on Nuclear Security which was held in London in March. We have all signed the Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management and urge others to join us.

24. Since the horrific accident in 1986, we have worked with Ukraine to improve the safety and security of the Chernobyl site. This year, together with the EU and 16 other countries, we have increased pledged funding for the construction of a new safe confinement over the remnants of the reactor to approximately $1 billion. We welcome Ukraine's political and financial commitment to this project, and urge Ukraine to ensure that the project can be completed safely by 2009.

Radioactive Source Safety and Security

25. At Evian we resolved to improve controls on radioactive sources to prevent their use by terrorists. We welcome the fact that more than 70 countries have committed to implement the IAEA Code of Conduct on the Safety and Security of Radioactive Sources and urge all other states to adopt the Code. We welcome the IAEA endorsement of the international import and export framework for the control of radioactive sources. We will work towards having effective controls applied by the end of 2005, in a harmonised and consistent manner. We commend the results of the IAEA's International Conference on the Safety and Security of Radioactive Sources which was held in Bordeaux, France in June. We will strengthen our co-operation to improve the security of radioactive sources world wide.

Source: G8 Presidency website, http://www.g8.gov.uk/.

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© 2005 The Acronym Institute.