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Mr. President,
Denmark aligns itself with the statements of the Nordic Countries, the European Union
and the Vienna Group of Ten countries.
We congratulate you on your appointment and assure you of our full support.
We reiterate our steadfast support for the NPT which is of invaluable importance to
global security, a bulwark against proliferation of nuclear weapons and the only
credible path to nuclear disarmament.
Mr. President,
Denmark is committed to the goal of a world without nuclear weapons and seeks to
create the necessary security environment for this goal to be achieved. Steps towards
this goal could include risk reduction, increased transparency and nuclear disarmament
verification.
However, as long as nuclear weapons exist, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization will remain a nuclear alliance. The purpose of NATO remains to preserve peace, prevent coercion, and deter aggression. NATO’s extended deterrence arrangements provide a disincentive to acquire nuclear weapons by protecting non-nuclear-weapon states from nuclear aggressors, thereby contributing to the non-proliferation objectives of the NPT. We commend the important and balanced recent speech of the French President on nuclear deterrence and underline that Denmark’s cooperation on nuclear deterrence is fully in line with our NPT obligations.
We fully support efforts to promote the entry into force of the Comprehensive Nuclear
Test Ban Treaty and call on the remaining Annex II states to ratify the Treaty.
We urge Russia to reverse its decision to withdraw its ratification and, in the meantime,
continue to act in accordance with the letter and spirit of the CTBT and to adhere to
the moratorium on nuclear tests.
We also support a treaty banning the production of fissile material for use in nuclear
weapons or other explosive devices. Until then, we call on all States concerned to
declare and uphold an immediate moratorium on the production of fissile material for
nuclear weapons.
Mr. President,
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has gravely undermined global security and effective
multilateralism. Russia’s irresponsible nuclear rhetoric and development of new
nuclear capabilities, its decision to deploy nuclear weapons in Belarus, and its seizure
of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant all add to the dangers created by this
illegal attack.
We are also deeply concerned by China’s massive and opaque expansion of its nuclear
arsenal, which runs counter to the obligations in Article VI, ambiguity about its
declared “no first use”-doctrine and its unwillingness to engage in arms control.
Mr. President,
The world faces serious nuclear proliferation challenges. The DPRK continues to
develop its unlawful nuclear and ballistic missile programmes in violation of multiple
Security Council resolutions. And we once again reiterate that Iran must never be
allowed to develop or acquire a nuclear weapon.
We underline our solid support for the IAEA including its safeguards system which
prevents and detects nuclear proliferation.
In the same vein, we stress our support for multilateral export control regimes,
especially the Nuclear Suppliers Group and the Zangger Committee which is chaired
by Denmark. They create transparency and a level playing field enabling states to
implement both their nuclear non-proliferation and peaceful uses obligations.
Mr. President,
Simply put, the world is more secure thanks to the NPT and we stand ready to pursue
every effort to strengthen the Treaty.
Thank you.
