Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

Annan urges global support for new initiative on nuclear non-proliferation

26 September 2005 – Reiterating his disillusionment that this month's United Nations World Summit failed to address nuclear proliferation, Secretary-General Kofi Annan today called on the international community to throw its weight behind a new multi-state initiative led by Norway to chart a way ahead.

"The Summit made progress on a number of important issues facing the international community," Mr. Annan said in a message to the annual General Conference of the UN International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) meeting in Vienna.

"But when it came to the challenge of strengthening all three pillars of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) – disarmament, non-proliferation, and peaceful uses of nuclear technology – the Summit was a failure.

"States were not able even to reaffirm existing commitments, or find a way forward even at the level of principles," he added in the message, delivered by Under-Secretary-General for Disarmament Affairs Nobuyasu Abe.

He noted that a group of States, led by Norway and including Australia, Chile, Indonesia, Romania, South Africa and the United Kingdom, is working to try to chart a way forward, and he cited the risks of nuclear and radiological terrorism as well as proliferation.

"I encourage all IAEA Member States – and, indeed, all States – to support their initiative. And I hope that this IAEA conference can send a signal of the international community's seriousness and determination to strengthen the NPT," he said.