The five member countries of the UN Security Council (The United States, China, Russia, the United Kingdom and France) pledged Monday to “prevent the proliferation” of nuclear weapons in a joint statement, prior to a conference on the Non-Proliferation Treaty (TNP).
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In full negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program, these five nuclear powers underscored their “willingness to work with all States to establish a security environment that allows further progress in disarmament, with the ultimate goal of a world without nuclear weapons. “, explained the French presidency, which coordinated the work of those countries before the conference on the NPT.
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Each of us will maintain and further strengthen our national measures to prevent the unauthorized or unintended use of nuclear weapons.
The declaration comes before the 10th Conference of the Parties charged with reviewing the NPT, the international treaty that entered into force in 1970 to prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons and to which 191 States are party.
The conference will take place under the auspices of the UN. “We affirm that a nuclear war cannot be won and that it should never be fought,” said the five countries that signed the Treaty.
“In view of the far-reaching consequences of the use of nuclear weapons, we also affirm that nuclear weapons, as long as they exist, should be used for defensive, deterrent and war prevention purposes,” they added.
“Each of us will maintain and further strengthen our national measures to prevent the unauthorized or unintended use of nuclear weapons,” the text continued.
The signatories are the five states legally recognized as “nuclear weapon states” by the NPT. Three other countries considered possessors of the atomic bomb (India, Pakistan and Israel) did not sign the treaty. And North Korea has denounced it.
The West suspects that Iran seeks to develop, using the technology of its satellite launchers, long-range ballistic launchers capable of carrying conventional or nuclear payloads.
Negotiations resumed in December in Vienna to reactivate the 2015 agreement on Iran’s nuclear program, from which the United States withdrew in 2018.
China says deal ‘will increase mutual trust’
China said the declaration it signed on Monday with four other nuclear powers to prevent the proliferation of atomic weapons “will increase mutual trust” and reduce the risk of nuclear conflict.
“The joint statement issued by the leaders of the five nuclear-weapon states will help increase mutual trust and replace competition between the great powers with coordination and cooperation,” the official Xinhua news agency quoted the deputy foreign minister as saying. Ma Zhaoxu.
Ma called the deal “positive and far-reaching”, adding that he hopes it will help create “balanced relations between the major powers.”
The communiqué “embodies the political will of the five countries to avoid a war.
and expresses in one voice “the desire to” maintain global strategic stability and reduce the risk of a nuclear conflict, “Ma was quoted as saying by Xinhua.
“The five countries should take the joint declaration as a new starting point, increase mutual trust, strengthen cooperation and play an active role in building a world where there is lasting peace and universal security,” he added.
Russia hopes deal will reduce ‘tensions’
Russia hopes that the declaration it signed on Monday will serve to reduce world tensions, and insisted that a UN Security Council summit is necessary.
“We hope that, given the current difficult conditions for international security, the approval of this political declaration will help reduce the level of international tensions,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
For his part, Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov told RIA Novosti that the Russian government considers it “necessary” for the main nuclear powers to meet at a summit.
The Russian Foreign Ministry also indicated that it hopes the agreement “will contribute” to strengthening “confidence and laying the foundations for future control of offensive and defensive weapons.” S
According to the institution, the declaration was an initiative of the Russian government. Tensions between Russia and Western countries have increased in recent months over the situation in Ukraine, which prompted the United States and its allies to warn Moscow of massive coordinated sanctions if it invades the former Soviet republic.
AFP
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