For Immediate Release
June 20, 2005
U.S.-EU Declaration on Enhancing Cooperation in the Field of Non Proliferation and the Fight Against Terrorism
Promoting international peace and security is of vital importance to
the United States and the European Union. People all over the world
should have freedom from fear and want and live in dignity. Societies
have become more interconnected and more interdependent. And as the
events of September 11, 2001 and March 11, 2004 show, the United States
and the European Union have also become more vulnerable to threats
which are more diverse, less visible, and less predictable.
Fighting terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass
destruction, coupled with the risk that such weapons could be acquired
by terrorists, remain our greatest security challenges. In this
context, we recall the 2004 Dromoland Castle Declarations on Combating
Terrorism and on the Non-Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction,
which still provide the framework for our cooperation. We are fully
committed to strengthen and support the important role of the United
Nations in assisting member states in combating both challenges.
We reaffirm our commitment to cooperate in our efforts to combat
global terrorism in full respect of human rights, fundamental freedoms
and the rule of law, and to address the underlying conditions that
terrorists can seize to recruit and exploit to their advantage. We
pledge to intensify our efforts to strengthen international cooperation
to encourage the global and effective implementation of UN conventions
and protocols on terrorism. We also work together with a view to
adopting the Comprehensive Convention Against Terrorism. We broadly
support the principles of the comprehensive counter-terrorism strategy
as proposed by UNSG Annan at the Madrid Conference in March 2005.
Our bilateral cooperation extends to developing comprehensive and
efficient border security processes, more secure travel documents,
contacts between our law enforcement agencies and improved
information-sharing abilities. We will reinforce and expand our
cooperation in the fight against terrorist financing. We will continue
to strengthen the abilities of our legal systems to prosecute
terrorists and will enhance our judicial cooperation in criminal
matters. We will also continue our work to enhance the capacities of
other countries to combat terrorism.
We will further strengthen measures against the proliferation of
weapons of mass destruction by state and non-state actors. In this
context, we reaffirm our support for the Nuclear Non Proliferation
Treaty and will continue to work together to strengthen it. We pledge
to intensify our collaboration and coordination in promoting strict
implementation of and compliance with relevant treaties, agreements and
commitments on non proliferation. We will enhance the security of
weapons-usable materials, facilities, and technology. We reaffirm also
our willingness to work together to strengthen and universalise the
disarmament and non-proliferation treaties and regimes that ban the
proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and their delivery
systems.
We will assist other states around the world to build stronger
legal, regulatory, enforcement and other institutional capacity against
proliferation. And we will work for more effective responses to address
proliferation threats and prevent or remedy non-compliance. Our shared
commitment to address proliferation threats is reflected in the "US-EU
Joint Programme of Work on the Non-proliferation of Weapons of Mass
Destruction.
We remain united in our determination to see the proliferation
implications of Iran's advanced nuclear program resolved. Towards that
end, we reconfirm our full support for the ongoing European efforts to
secure Iran's agreement to provide objective guarantees that its
nuclear program is intended for exclusively peaceful purposes. As
those discussions proceed, we urge Iran to abide fully by the terms of
the November 2004 Paris Agreement and by the November 2004 IAEA Board
of Governors resolution, including the need to suspend fully and
verifiably all enrichment-related and reprocessing activities. We
reiterate the need for Iran to cooperate fully with IAEA requests for
information and access, to comply fully with all IAEA Board
requirements and resolve all outstanding issues related to its nuclear
programme. Finally we call on Iran to ratify without delay the
Additional Protocol and, pending its ratification, to act in accordance
with its provisions.
We note with deep concern the DPRK's nuclear weapons program and
its 10 February statement that it has manufactured nuclear weapons.
The DPRK has clearly violated its commitments under the NPT and its
IAEA safeguards agreement and other international non-proliferation
agreements. The DPRK must comply fully with its non-proliferation
obligations, and dismantle its nuclear weapons and nuclear weapons
programs in a permanent, transparent, thorough, and verifiable manner.
We stress that the Korean Peninsula should be free from nuclear
weapons, the security and stability on the Peninsula be maintained and
the nuclear issue be peacefully resolved through dialogue and
negotiations. We fully reaffirm our support for the Six-Party Talks
and believe this represents an important opportunity to achieve a
comprehensive solution to the denuclearization of the Korean
Peninsula.
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