The UK welcomes the US initiative made in Geneva in May to table a draft treaty text and draft mandate for negotiations. We hope that all Conference on Disarmament (CD) member states are able to accept the very broad mandate proposed and agree to open negotiations towards a treaty without delay. UK officials and experts are assessing the implications for the UK of the draft US text for a fissile material cut-off treaty.
The UK’s, and the wider EU’s, support for such a Treaty is well known. In the Common Position negotiated in advance of last year’s Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference, the EU appealed to the CD for the immediate commencement and early conclusion of a non-discriminatory, universally applicable Treaty banning the production of fissile material for nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices.