The White House, President George W. Bush Click to print this document

For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
June 26, 2004

Text of U.S. - EU Declaration on the Non-Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction
Dromoland Castle
Shannon, Ireland

The United States and the European Union reiterate that the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and their delivery systems is a major threat to international peace and security. The risk that terrorists might acquire such weapons adds a new dimension to this threat. This global challenge requires a long-term strategy and a multifaceted solution. We need to tackle it individually and collectively, working together and with other partners, including through relevant international institutions, in particular those of the United Nations system. We are committed to strengthening the consensus among nations that proliferation is unacceptable. We call attention to our 2003 Joint Statement and our individual and collective joint efforts since then. We have identified the following joint actions to express our continuing determination to prevent, contain, and reverse proliferation:

We applaud the adoption of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1540 and urge all States to implement all of its provisions in full. The Resolution states that proliferation of nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons, as well as their means of delivery, constitutes a threat to international peace and security. Terrorism and illicit trafficking add new dimensions to this threat. The Resolution identifies additional steps that States should take to counter these threats. We will meet our obligations under this Resolution and are prepared to assist States in doing the same. We will adopt, where needed, and enforce effective laws to prohibit the manufacture, acquisition, possession, development, transport, or transfer of weapons of mass destruction by non-state actors. We will adopt, where needed, and enforce domestic controls to prevent proliferation, including physical protection, border, export, and transhipment controls.

We welcome the G8 Action Plan on Non-Proliferation announced at Sea Island on 9 June 2004 .

Proliferation is a global threat which requires an effective global response. We reaffirm 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. In particular, we underline the importance of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention, and the Chemical Weapons Convention.

We recognise the NPT as the cornerstone of the global non-proliferation regime. We emphasise our commitment to preserve the integrity of the Treaty in all its aspects. We pledge to work together to achieve a successful outcome at the 2005 Review Conference of the Treaty and have agreed to the following steps to strengthen the NPT:

We remain concerned by the risks posed by the potential use of radioactive sources for terrorist purposes. We have resolved to enhance coordination of our efforts to promote radioactive source security and prevent the misuse of sources.

We support amending the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Materials to cover domestic storage, transport, and use of nuclear material for peaceful purposes. We will examine ways to strengthen existing controls and guidelines on weapons useable nuclear materials and nuclear facilities used for peaceful purposes.

Since last year, we have made significant progress in the area of export control cooperation.

We remain committed to cooperating on specific proliferation challenges.

We resolve to continue our work to prevent proliferation activity by both State and non-State actors and to address existing areas of proliferation concern.

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