The challenge of Non-proliferation and Disarmament

A meeting with Ms. Rose Gottemoeller, U.S. Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security and Madelyn Creedon, Principal Deputy Administrator for the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration - 10 April 2015.

With the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference just a few weeks away and the breakthrough in the nuclear talks with Iran, disarmament and non-proliferation are back again in the spotlight. Such topics were the subject of a meeting with Ms. Rose Gottemoeller, U.S. Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security and Madelyn Creedon, Principal Deputy Administrator for the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration, organized by IAI in cooperation with Italy’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on 10 April 2015. The meeting addressed the main sticking points that will be discussed in the NPT Review Conference from 22 April to 9 May 2015. Participants debated the prospect of establishing a Weapons of Mass Destruction-Free Zone in the Middle East, the nuclear dimension of the Ukrainian crisis, and the humanitarian consequences of nuclear proliferation. Alongside challenges, the participants also highlighted achievements. These include Syria joining the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) in 2013 and the conclusion of a framework deal between the P5+1 (China, France, Germany, Russia, the UK and the US plus the EU) and Iran over the latter’s controversial nuclear programme. The speakers also provided an overview of the US administration’s actions, at the national as well as bilateral and international level, in keeping with the NPT’s three pillars: disarmament, non-proliferation and peaceful use of nuclear energy. The speakers also recalled Obama’s Prague speech in 2010 whose spirit is still alive and that it can act as a strong impulse to a successful NPT Review Conference.