06 October 2004
United States Confident Brazil Is Not Pursuing Nuclear Weapons
Secretary of State Colin Powell discusses issue with Brazil's "TV Global"
By Eric Green
Washington File Staff Writer
Washington -- The United States fully accepts that Brazil has no desire, plans or interest in developing a nuclear weapon, but rather aims to develop a nuclear power program for peaceful purposes, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell says in a reiteration of prior U.S. statements on the subject.
Interviewed October 5 in Brasilia by Brazil's "TV Global," Powell said Brazil's plan for a nuclear power program is an issue between the Brazilians and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which works for the safe, secure and peaceful uses of nuclear science and technology.
Powell said he is confident that when the IAEA inspectors return to Brazil to discuss whether the agency will be allowed to inspect Brazil's uranium enrichment plant, which the Brazilians say is to make fuel for nuclear power generation, "they'll find a way to resolve their outstanding issues" on the matter.
The secretary said he did not believe the IAEA or the United States or anyone else wants to see Brazil give away any of its "proprietary knowledge" on nuclear matters "that [Brazil] believes it should hold close."
But at the same time, Powell said, "we believe that Brazil will want to do everything it can to satisfy the IAEA that it is meeting ... all of its obligations."
In addition, the United States hopes that in due course Brazil "will see the wisdom" of signing on to what is called the "Additional Protocol" to expand the IAEA's authority to detect clandestine nuclear programs and increase the number of nuclear-related activities that a signatory must declare to the agency, Powell said.
He added that Brazil is part of the "consensus that created the Additional Protocol, and now we hope that Brazil will see a way clear to adopt" the protocol.
Turning his attention to Brazil's leadership role in the Western Hemisphere, Powell said he is "especially appreciative" of how the Brazilians have assumed command of a U.N. peacekeeping force in Haiti.
Powell said there are plans to significantly increase the size of that force in Haiti.
He also said he had spoken to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan "to encourage him to do everything to speed up the arrival" of additional troops in Haiti.
The United States is pleased that Brazilian peacekeepers went into Haiti "quickly with a number of other friends in this part of the world," who stand alongside their Brazilian colleagues to aid the Haitian people, Powell said. He noted that the United States is providing a great deal of financial support to Haiti, adding, "I expect that the peacekeeping force will grow rapidly over the next month."
Powell called Brazil an important partner and an important neighbor, and a "significant friend" of the United States.
The United States and Brazil, he said, "have so much in common" as "two great democracies" in the Western Hemisphere.
Brazil also has played a leadership role in pointing out to the hemisphere and the world "the responsibility we all have to deal with hunger and poverty in our societies," Powell observed. "It's an example of a firm democracy."
Moreover, Brazil demonstrating leadership in the Group of Friends of Venezuela to help Venezuelans "come through their recent trying times," Powell said. "And I am especially appreciative of the leadership role that Brazil is now playing in Haiti, by being willing to take on the leadership of the military organization that is helping the United Nations and the Haitian people to a better life."
In an October 5 question-and-answer session in Sao Paulo at the headquarters of the Meninos Do Morumbi Youth-at-Risk After School Program, Powell said the United States does not support the Kyoto Protocol to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, but not because the Bush administration does not "understand the challenge presented to us by global warming." Climate change "is a problem," he conceded. "It is something we have to work on. And we are doing many things ... with respect to technology, with respect to scientific expenditures to find solutions, with respect to cutting down our own emissions."
To deal with the problem of global warming, Powell said, "We need a different set of solutions that are more appropriate than the Kyoto Treaty."
The secretary told the Brazilian students they are as "important as anyone else" in their country, especially because they will shape Brazil's future.
Finally, Powell said, "We have to make sure that you are getting the education that you need, make sure that you are getting the experience that you need to be successful, and we have to make sure that you know that there is nothing you can't do, in Brazil or anywhere else, if you are willing to work for it and if you are willing to dream for it."
(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
This page printed from: http://usinfo.state.gov/xarchives/display.html?p=washfile-english&y=2004&m=October&x=20041006152637AEneerG0.9330713&t=livefeeds/wf-latest.html
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
