‘The new strategic nuclear arms reduction treaty represents a substantial contribution by the United States and Russia towards reducing the nuclear arsenal and thus brings the prospect of a world free of nuclear arms a step closer.’

These remarks, by foreign minister Maxime Verhagen, came in response to the signing today of the new START treaty in Prague. Russia and the United States have committed to reducing their stocks of strategic nuclear arms by a third.

The Netherlands hopes that this achievement will set the tone for the upcoming UN review conference on non-proliferation in New York next month. There, delegates will discuss the implementation of the Non-Proliferation Treaty, which should ultimately lead to the abolition of all nuclear weapons.

‘I hope that the new treaty will also convince other countries of the need to combat the further spread of nuclear weapons,’ said Mr Verhagen, who will be representing the Netherlands at the conference in New York.

Mr Verhagen is urging the US and Russia to extend their negotiations to cover reducing the number of non-strategic nuclear weapons in Europe and elsewhere. Together with his counterparts in Germany, Norway, Belgium and Luxembourg, Mr Verhagen has placed the issue on the agenda of the NATO meeting scheduled for later this month.



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