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Strenghten Vienna as Hub for International Arms Control |
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Spindelegger: "Vienna´s role as a hub for the international arms control dialogue should be strengthened"
Foreign Minister meets with UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs
Bernhard J. Holzner © HOPI-MEDIA
Sergio Duarte (left) with Foreign Minister Spindelegger
Vienna, 31 March 2009 - "Nuclear deterrence is a tool of the past. Today, our safety can be guaranteed in the long run only through global dialogue and effective arms control," stated Foreign Minister Michael Spindelegger following talks with the UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, Under-Secretary General Sergio Duarte. "In our era of complex, constantly changing security risks nuclear weapon arsenals are completely ineffectual relics of the Cold War. This fact has got to be reflected in practical terms in defence strategies and disarmament negotiations," asserted Spindelegger.
In this context Spindelegger welcomed the latest statements on nuclear disarmament, in particular those made by the nuclear weapons states: "Both US President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have clearly spoken out in favour of progress in disarmament. After these very positive signals we are waiting for concrete steps and visible results. Disarmament and the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons remain priority goals of international security policy."
The Foreign Minister and Under-Secretary General Sergio Duarte discussed Austrian initiatives concerning the entry into force of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT). Until September 2009, Austria, together with Costa Rica, will co-chair the so-called CTBT Article XIV Conference, which supports the swift entry into force of the Test Ban Treaty. "There are many indications that the nuclear weapons states are currently rethinking their position and that the goal of a world without nuclear weapons can no longer be dismissed as something that is out of touch with reality," stated Spindelegger.
The Foreign Minister emphasised that intensified international efforts were required to achieve this goal: "We must elaborate the necessary framework conditions together. On the one hand, this requires a strong normative set of rules - we therefore emphatically support the entry into force of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. But it is also necessary to substantially upgrade the control bodies for these treaties, i.e. the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the CTBT Organisation, which both have their seats in Vienna. Vienna´s role as a hub of the international arms control dialogue will therefore be further strengthened." In addition to IAEA and CTBTO, Vienna is the seat of numerous other arms control mechanisms such as the Wassenaar Secretariat, the Nuclear Suppliers Group and the Hague Code of Conduct against Ballistic Missile Proliferation.
Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs
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