On 10–11 June four senior SIPRI experts participated in a roundtable discussion hosted by the International Luxemburg Forum on Preventing Nuclear Catastrophe in Geneva.
The Forum was established pursuant to a decision of the International Conference on Preventing Nuclear Catastrophe, held in Luxembourg on 24–25 May 2007. The Forum’s Advisory Council includes 49 reputable and world-renowned experts from 14 countries.
At the Geneva event Jayantha Dhanapala, Acting Chairman of the SIPRI Governing Board, Chair Emeritus Rolf Ekeus, SIPRI's Non-Proliferation, Arms Control and Disarmament Programme Director Tariq Rauf and Hans Blix joined 20 other respected experts to make urgent proposals on strengthening the nuclear non-proliferation regime in anticipation of 2015 Review Conference of the Treaty on the Non-proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (Non-Proliferation Treaty, NPT).
The press release issued at the start of the roundtable noted that participants 'found it necessary to join their efforts to overcome the stagnation in strengthening the nuclear non-proliferation and to boost cooperation between leading countries in this domain regardless of the general political crisis and in spite of it'.
The Final Declaration endorsed by the participants in their personal capacity called for an early completion of the negotiations between the E3+3 (France, Germany and the United Kingdom plus China, Russia and the United States) and Iran on a comprehensive agreement on Iran's nuclear programme, following their interim agreement signed in Geneva 24 November 2013; the resumption of strategic and arms control dialogue and negotiations between Russia and the USA on nuclear as well as conventional forces; and the ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBTO) by the remaining eight states—China, Egypt, India, Iran, Israel, North Korea, Pakistan and the USA—whose ratification is required for the treaty's entry into force.
Contact Tariq Rauf for more information about the Forum. Read his day-by-day account of the third and final Preparatory Committee for the 2015 NPT Review Conference.