US consulting India, Pakistan to start negotiations on N-weapons treaty
7 Nov 2013 5:00 AM IST
The United States is consulting with key nuclear powers along with India and Pakistan on ways to commence negotiations on the Fissile Material Cutoff Treaty (FMCT), a US official said.
The FMCT is a proposed international treaty, prohibiting further production of fissile material for nuclear weapons or other explosive devices.
Pakistan is the only country that has been blocking repeatedly the start of the FMCT negotiations, frustrating the International Community.
‘The United States is consulting with China, France, Russia, and the United Kingdom, as well as others, including India and Pakistan, to find a way to commence negotiations of an FMCT,’ Frank A Rose, Deputy Assistant-Secretary of State for Bureau of Arms Control, Verification and Compliance, said. Rose on Monday said that initiating multilateral negotiations on the FMCT is priority objective for the United States and for the vast majority of states. He said that the US has been working to initiate such negotiations at the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva. ‘An overwhelming majority of nations support the immediate commencement of FMCT negotiations,’ Rose said. US President Barack Obama had in Berlin called on all nations to start negotiations on a treaty that ends the production of fissile materials for nuclear weapons. ‘A Fissile Material Cutoff Treaty or FMCT would codify an end to the production of weapons-grade fissile material needed to create nuclear weapons, cap stockpiles worldwide, and provide the basis for further, deeper, reductions in nuclear arsenals,’ Obama had said.
The FMCT is a proposed international treaty, prohibiting further production of fissile material for nuclear weapons or other explosive devices.
Pakistan is the only country that has been blocking repeatedly the start of the FMCT negotiations, frustrating the International Community.
‘The United States is consulting with China, France, Russia, and the United Kingdom, as well as others, including India and Pakistan, to find a way to commence negotiations of an FMCT,’ Frank A Rose, Deputy Assistant-Secretary of State for Bureau of Arms Control, Verification and Compliance, said. Rose on Monday said that initiating multilateral negotiations on the FMCT is priority objective for the United States and for the vast majority of states. He said that the US has been working to initiate such negotiations at the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva. ‘An overwhelming majority of nations support the immediate commencement of FMCT negotiations,’ Rose said. US President Barack Obama had in Berlin called on all nations to start negotiations on a treaty that ends the production of fissile materials for nuclear weapons. ‘A Fissile Material Cutoff Treaty or FMCT would codify an end to the production of weapons-grade fissile material needed to create nuclear weapons, cap stockpiles worldwide, and provide the basis for further, deeper, reductions in nuclear arsenals,’ Obama had said.
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