TAOISEACH BRIAN Cowen has called on the international community urgently to adopt the nuclear test ban treaty, saying the nine countries that have not ratified the pact by this stage should do so without delay.
Leaders from four of those countries were present at the Asia-Europe summit in Brussels yesterday as Mr Cowen told a plenary session that the treaty’s enactment would improve global security.
“Few will deny that the first decade of the 21st century was largely unproductive for disarmament and non-proliferation,” Mr Cowen said.
The test ban treaty, ratified by Ireland in 1999, prohibits all nuclear explosions for weapons testing or other purposes but it cannot enter into force globally until it is ratified by China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Iran, Israel, North Korea, Pakistan and the US. A year ago the US senate rejected ratification.
Attendees at the summit include leaders from China, India, Pakistan and Indonesia.
Mr Cowen said in his speech that nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament had been on the international agenda for a long time, but argued that it remained the highest priority and said momentum and energy should be maintained to address such challenges.
“The Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty aims to hamper the development and the qualitative improvement of nuclear weapons and, as such, is one of the essential pillars in the nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation framework,” he said.
“Its entry into force would significantly strengthen international security architecture.”
While welcoming the fact that Indonesia had begun ratification procedures, the Taoiseach urged other countries to follow suit. A “rules-based global order” provided the best prospect for enduring international peace and stability, he argued.
Mr Cowen welcomed the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty agreement between the US and Russia.
Under this agreement the number of Russian and US deployed strategic warheads will be reduced by approximately one-third to 1,550 within seven years of the treaty’s entry into force.
The treaty must first be ratified by both parties.
The Taoiseach also welcomed the outcome of a recent review of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which prepared the ground for an international conference in 2012 on the establishment of a zone free of nuclear weapons in the Middle East.
Mr Cowen’s summit address during a discussion on “global issues” was followed by an address by Chinese premier Wen Jiabao, who spoke on the question of food security.
Five other speakers – among them Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov and EU Commission chief José Manuel Barroso – spoke on topics such as global security, counter-terrorism, poverty, disaster management and prevention and the place of United Nations system in global affairs.
The Taoiseach was not available yesterday to speak with Irish reporters in Brussels.
In a statement issued after his departure for Dublin, where he took Leaders’ Questions in the Dáil yesterday afternoon, Mr Cowen said the summit provided a good platform to “reach out” to the key markets of Europe and Asia.
Notwithstanding the gravity of current economic strain on the international community, he said other pressing global issues such as disarmament required serious attention.
