Statement by Gareth Evans on the Conclusion of the Latin America Regional Meeting of the International Commission on Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament

3 May 2009

The International Commission on Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament held its first regional meeting in Santiago de Chile 1-3 May. The meeting was organized in partnership with the Latin American School of Social Sciences (FLACSO).

In welcoming nuclear experts and senior officials from across the region, Commission Co-Chair Gareth Evans praised Latin America’s rejection of nuclear weapons and the region’s leadership in global arms control measures.
Mr Evans called on all countries in the region to adopt the most stringent international controls against proliferation, and to support practical steps towards the eventual abolition of nuclear weapons globally.

The meeting allowed the Commission to learn at first-hand of regional views on global and regional nuclear issues: disarmament, non-proliferation and the safe and secure management of the peaceful uses of nuclear energy. The Commission was briefed on the experience of Latin America with regional non-proliferation arrangements, and Latin American thinking on ways to strengthen the momentum for the eventual abolition of nuclear weapons.

Participants noted the new opportunities opening for advancing nuclear disarmament. They debated the balance of obligations on states to meet proliferation and disarmament obligations, and considered proposals for building on experience of the various regional nuclear free zones including in Latin America (the Treaty of Tlatelolco), the South Pacific, South East Asia and Africa.

The meeting also reviewed regional attitudes to the further adoption of nuclear power to meet growing energy needs and related environmental consequences.

On Monday Co-Chair Evans and Commissioners Ernesto Zedillo, Alexei Arbatov, Klaus Naumann and Baroness Williams will call on President Bachelet and members of her Government to discuss the work of the Commission.

The Commission, co-chaired by former Australian Foreign Minister Gareth Evans and former Japanese Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi, is an independent global initiative established in 2008, supported by the Governments of Australia and Japan. The Commission is a global panel which includes former heads of state and senior ministers, military strategists and disarmament experts. It is supported by an Advisory Board of international experts and works in collaboration with research centres from around the world – including FLACSO. The Commission will hold three more regional meetings this year – in Beijing for Northeast Asia, New Delhi for South Asia and Cairo for the Middle East.

The Commission aims to reinvigorate the global debate on nuclear disarmament and on preventing the further spread of nuclear weapons to other parts of the world. To this end its major report will be issued by early 2010 to help build an international consensus in advance of the May 2010 conference to review the operation of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

 

[For further information please contact the Australian Embassy Media officer Monica Gomez: +56 9 9022 2969]

 

List of Participants in the Latin America Regional Meeting
Santiago de Chile, 1-3 May 2009

COMMISSIONERS

Mr Gareth Evans (Co-Chair - Australia), Dr Alexei Arbatov (Russia), General (ret.) Klaus Naumann (Germany), Baroness Shirley Williams (United Kingdom), Dr Ernesto Zedillo (Mexico).

ADVISORY BOARD MEMBERS

Ambassador Nobuyasu Abe (Japan), Ms Martine Letts (Australia), Dr George Perkovich (United States).

REGIONAL PARTICIPANTS

Ms Irma Argüello (Argentina)
Founder and Chair, The Non-proliferation for Global Security Foundation (NPSGlobal).

Dr Gabriel Barceló (Argentina)
Manager, Institutional Relations, National Atomic Energy Commission.

Mr Mauricio Bisauta (Argentina)
Vice-President, National Atomic Energy Commission.

Dr Raúl Racana (Argentina)
President, Nuclear Regulatory Authority.

Ms Silvia Raiola (Argentina)
Head, Non-Proliferation Unit, International Security Division, Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Dr Raúl Ricardes (Argentina)
Director General for Multilateral Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Dr Odair Dias Gonçalves (Brazil)
President, National Commission for Nuclear Energy (CNEN)
Note: Dr Gonçalves is attending the meeting as the representative for Brazil's Minister for Science and Technology.

Dr Celso Lafer (Brazil)
Former Foreign Minister and Minister for Development, Trade and Industry during the government of Brazil’s former President Fernando Henrique Cardoso. Currently President, FAPESP (The State of São Paulo Foundation for the Advancement of Research).

Mr Georges Daniel Landau (Brazil)
Senior consultant, Brazilian Centre for International Relations (CEBRI), owner of the consulting company Prismax and Professor of International Economics.

Ambassador Georges Lamazière (Brazil)
Brazilian Ambassador to Denmark and Lithuania (2006-present). Note: Ambassador Lamazière is attending the meeting as the representative of Brazil’s Minister for External Relations.

Dr Maria Cristina Lourenço(Brazil)
Coordinator of International Affairs, National Commission for Nuclear Energy (CNEN).

Mr Santiago Mourão (Brazil)
Brazil's chief negotiator on nuclear issues and Head, Division for Disarmament and Sensitive Technologies, Ministry for External Relations.

Ambassador Alfredo Labbé (Chile)
Director, International and Human Security Division, Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Mr Carlos Maldonado (Chile)
International advisor to the Undersecretary of Defence, Ministry of Defence.

Mr Marcos Robledo (Chile)
International advisor to the President, Michelle Bachelet, covering foreign policy and defence issues.

Mr Roberto Ubilla (Chile)
First Secretary, International and Human Security Division, Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Ambassador Mabel Gómez Oliver (Mexico)
Mexico’s Alternate Representative to the United Nations and other international organisations headquartered in Geneva.

Mr Julián Juárez Cadenas (Mexico)
Deputy Director-General for Peace and International Security, Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Ambassador Roberta Lajous Vargas (Mexico)
Mexico’s Ambassador to Bolivia and former Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Vienna and subsequently to the United Nations in New York.

Dr Odilon Marcuzzo do Canto
Argentina-Brazil Agency for Accounting and Control of Nuclear Materials (ABACC)
Secretary, Argentina-Brazil Agency for Accounting and Control of Nuclear Materials (ABACC).

Mr Abraham Stein (Organisation of American States (OAS))
Deputy Secretary for Multidimensional Security.

Mr Rodrigo Álvarez Valdés (FLACSO-Chile)
Coordinator, The Non Proliferation and Disarmament Project, FLACSO-Chile.

Mr José Jara (FLACSO-Chile)
Director of FLACSO-Chile.

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