White House Pleased with Progress on Nonproliferation Proposals

17 June 2005

Creation of new committee will strengthen IAEA monitoring, enforcement

Following is a June 17 statement from the White House on the Bush administration's nonproliferation proposals and the International Atomic Energy Agency's creation of a Committee on Safeguards and Verification:

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THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
June 17, 2005
STATEMENT BY THE PRESS SECRETARY

Progress in Achieving the President's Nonproliferation Proposals

The United States welcomes today's action by the 35-nation International Atomic Energy (IAEA) Board of Governors to create a Special Committee on Safeguards and Verification, as proposed by the President.  The creation of this special committee will aid efforts to counter the proliferation of nuclear weapons and will strengthen the IAEA's ability to monitor and enforce compliance with the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and related agreements.

The creation of this special committee is one of the proposals the President made in February 2004 to address nuclear proliferation.  Since that time, substantial progress has been made in achieving the President's other nonproliferation proposals, including:

-- Expansion of the Proliferation Security Initiative to include more nations, and development of new approaches for interdicting weapons of mass destruction and related material.  We recently commemorated the second anniversary of PSI with representatives from over 100 nations.

-- Adoption of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1540 on April 28, 2004, that requires all states to criminalize proliferation by non-state actors, enact strict export controls, and secure sensitive materials within their borders.

-- Expansion of the G-8 Global Partnership to include not only the G-8 but thirteen other donor countries.  Ukraine has joined as both a donor and recipient and additional countries are also being considered.

-- Agreement by the G-8 to limit transfers of enrichment and reprocessing capabilities while examining options to permanently restrict these technologies at the Nuclear Suppliers Group.

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