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 You are in: Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs > Bureau of Public Affairs > Bureau of Public Affairs: Press Relations Office > Press Releases (Other) > 2004 > July 
Taken Questions
Office of the Spokesman
Washington, DC
July 29, 2004
Question Taken at the July 29, 2004 Press Briefing

U.S. Participation in the Geneva Conference on Disarmament

Question:Can you explain Ambassador Sanders comments made on the Geneva Conference on Disarmamament? Why did we decide to participate at this time?

Answer:   The United States has been actively involved in the Geneva Conference on Disarmamament every year since its inception. Since last year, the U.S. Representative to the Conference on Disarmamament concurrently serves, for the first time, as the Special Representative of the President for Nuclear Nonproliferation. This was done to enhance the Representative’s position as the U.S. negotiator on issues such as promoting nuclear nonproliferation and support for the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.

This year, on July 29, the U.S. Ambassador to the Conference on Disarmament, Ambassador Sanders, set forth the U.S. position on two important issues:

  • The U.S. proposal to negotiate an international agreement to ban the sale or export of all persistent landmines in the Conference on Disarmament.
  • Continued U.S. support for the negotiation in the Conference on Disarmament of a legally binding Fissile Material Cutoff Treaty that would ban production of fissile material for nuclear weapons.

Ambassador Sanders' statement also noted that the U.S. has serious concerns about the verifiability of a Fissile Material Cutoff Treaty, and that the U.S. will want to discuss these concerns with other Conference on Disarmament members. The timing of the statement was due to the recent completion of internal U.S. reviews of both of these issues.

2004/838

Released on July 29, 2004

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