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17 December 2003

Bolton Says Anti-Proliferation Meeting Successful

Enhanced interdiction capabilities were main focus

The State Department's top arms control official expressed pleasure with the results of a two-day meeting in Washington on the U.S.-sponsored Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI), according to a department statement.

John Bolton, under secretary of state for arms control and international security, said December 17 that the purpose of the meeting was to enhance the capability of participants to interdict shipments of weapons of mass destruction, their delivery systems and related materials.

The participants "discussed issues related to interdiction operations across the spectrum of possibilities," Bolton said in the statement.

Following is the text of the statement:

(begin text)

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Office of the Spokesman
December 17, 2003

STATEMENT BY RICHARD BOUCHER, SPOKESMAN

Proliferation Security Initiative

Following is a Statement by Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security John R. Bolton on this week's Proliferation Security Initiative meeting in Washington, D.C.:

We are very pleased with the success of this week's meeting of the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) Operation Experts here in Washington. This was the fifth meeting of operational experts held since President Bush announced the PSI in Krakow at the end of May and reflects our continued efforts to enhance collective capabilities for interdiction. The meeting was intended to enhance the operational capability of PSI participants to undertake air, maritime and ground interdictions of WMD [weapons of mass destruction], their delivery systems, and related materials

The U.S. and its PSI partners discussed issues related to interdiction operations across the spectrum of possibilities as described in the PSI Statement of Interdiction Principles (available on the State Dept website) agreed to in Paris this September. Four exercises have been held to date; several more are planned for 2004.

On Tuesday [December 16], National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice personally welcomed the participants and reemphasized the president's commitment to the PSI. Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz addressed the participants today [December 17] to reiterate this commitment.

Participants included representatives from the original 11 PSI participating countries -- Australia, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Consistent with decisions from the October PSI Plenary Meeting in London, the meeting also involved additional participants: Canada, Denmark, Norway, Singapore, and Turkey.

For additional details, please contact the Department of Defense, which hosted this week's meeting.

(end text)

(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

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