CD/PV.759
11 March 1997
ENGLISH

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Mrs. HJELM-WALLEN (Sweden):

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The CD should now start negotiations on a treaty banning the production of fissile material for nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices, the cut-off. This is the next urgent task. Already in 1995, the Conference adopted a statement containing a mandate for cut-off negotiations. It also decided to establish an ad hoc committee for this purpose.

The time has now come to proceed to substantive work. I urge all delegations to show the necessary flexibility to get these negotiations started without further delay. It is highly important that the CD meet the expectations placed on it by the international community.

The "Principles and objectives for nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament" adopted by the 1995 NPT Review and Extension Conference also call for the immediate commencement and early conclusion of such negotiations. A cut-off treaty would once and for all put a cap on the fissile material available for weapons purposes. It would create further favourable conditions for the reduction of nuclear arsenals. Such a treaty is thus of the highest significance both for continued nuclear disarmament and for nuclear non­proliferation.

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