For Immediate Release
June 20, 2005

U.S.-EU Declaration on Enhancing Cooperation in the Field of Non Proliferation and the Fight Against Terrorism

Promoting international peace and security is of vital importance to the United States and the European Union. People all over the world should have freedom from fear and want and live in dignity. Societies have become more interconnected and more interdependent. And as the events of September 11, 2001 and March 11, 2004 show, the United States and the European Union have also become more vulnerable to threats which are more diverse, less visible, and less predictable.

Fighting terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, coupled with the risk that such weapons could be acquired by terrorists, remain our greatest security challenges. In this context, we recall the 2004 Dromoland Castle Declarations on Combating Terrorism and on the Non-Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction, which still provide the framework for our cooperation. We are fully committed to strengthen and support the important role of the United Nations in assisting member states in combating both challenges.

We reaffirm our commitment to cooperate in our efforts to combat global terrorism in full respect of human rights, fundamental freedoms and the rule of law, and to address the underlying conditions that terrorists can seize to recruit and exploit to their advantage. We pledge to intensify our efforts to strengthen international cooperation to encourage the global and effective implementation of UN conventions and protocols on terrorism. We also work together with a view to adopting the Comprehensive Convention Against Terrorism. We broadly support the principles of the comprehensive counter-terrorism strategy as proposed by UNSG Annan at the Madrid Conference in March 2005.

Our bilateral cooperation extends to developing comprehensive and efficient border security processes, more secure travel documents, contacts between our law enforcement agencies and improved information-sharing abilities. We will reinforce and expand our cooperation in the fight against terrorist financing. We will continue to strengthen the abilities of our legal systems to prosecute terrorists and will enhance our judicial cooperation in criminal matters. We will also continue our work to enhance the capacities of other countries to combat terrorism.

We will further strengthen measures against the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction by state and non-state actors. In this context, we reaffirm our support for the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty and will continue to work together to strengthen it. We pledge to intensify our collaboration and coordination in promoting strict implementation of and compliance with relevant treaties, agreements and commitments on non proliferation. We will enhance the security of weapons-usable materials, facilities, and technology. We reaffirm also 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.

We will assist other states around the world to build stronger legal, regulatory, enforcement and other institutional capacity against proliferation. And we will work for more effective responses to address proliferation threats and prevent or remedy non-compliance. Our shared commitment to address proliferation threats is reflected in the "US-EU Joint Programme of Work on the Non-proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction.

We remain united in our determination to see the proliferation implications of Iran's advanced nuclear program resolved. Towards that end, we reconfirm our full support for the ongoing European efforts to secure Iran's agreement to provide objective guarantees that its nuclear program is intended for exclusively peaceful purposes. As those discussions proceed, we urge Iran to abide fully by the terms of the November 2004 Paris Agreement and by the November 2004 IAEA Board of Governors resolution, including the need to suspend fully and verifiably all enrichment-related and reprocessing activities. We reiterate the need for Iran to cooperate fully with IAEA requests for information and access, to comply fully with all IAEA Board requirements and resolve all outstanding issues related to its nuclear programme. Finally we call on Iran to ratify without delay the Additional Protocol and, pending its ratification, to act in accordance with its provisions.

We note with deep concern the DPRK's nuclear weapons program and its 10 February statement that it has manufactured nuclear weapons. The DPRK has clearly violated its commitments under the NPT and its IAEA safeguards agreement and other international non-proliferation agreements. The DPRK must comply fully with its non-proliferation obligations, and dismantle its nuclear weapons and nuclear weapons programs in a permanent, transparent, thorough, and verifiable manner. We stress that the Korean Peninsula should be free from nuclear weapons, the security and stability on the Peninsula be maintained and the nuclear issue be peacefully resolved through dialogue and negotiations. We fully reaffirm our support for the Six-Party Talks and believe this represents an important opportunity to achieve a comprehensive solution to the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

###