The text of the following statement was released by the Governments of the United States of America and Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Nigeria, the Philippines, and the United Kingdom on the occasion of the Friends of Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty event on September 23, 2024, on the margins of the 79th United Nations General Assembly.
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High level representatives from Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Nigeria, the Philippines, the United Kingdom and the United States of America convened a High-Level Meeting to launch the Friends of a Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty (FMCT) on 23 September 2024 in New York, on the margins of the United Nations General Assembly High Level Week.
They reaffirmed that achieving a world without nuclear weapons is a common goal for the international community and that a non-discriminatory, multilateral and effectively verifiable treaty banning the production of fissile material for nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices would represent a significant practical contribution to nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation efforts amid the heightened risk of destabilization.
To this end, the participants confirmed that they would work closely together to realize the common objectives of the group, which are to maintain and enhance political attention to an FMCT as a priority action to forestall a recurrence of a nuclear arms race, and to contribute to expanding the support for the immediate commencement of negotiations on an FMCT. They underlined their expectations that the Conference on Disarmament will take this forward as a matter of priority in its work, in a manner consistent with CD/1299.
The participants also welcomed actions and efforts taken thus far, inter alia, voluntary moratoria on the production of fissile material for nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices, dismantling or conversion for peaceful uses of facilities for the production of such fissile material and substantive proposals on an FMCT, as important interim steps pending the entry into force of an FMCT, as well as reporting on stockpiles of civil plutonium. In this regard, they encouraged relevant States to take concrete actions, including engaging in transparency and confidence building measures, as called for by over 140 nations in UN General Assembly resolution 78/28 in 2023.
The Friends of FMCT, a cross-regional group with the participation of both nuclear-weapon States and non-nuclear-weapon States, remain open to working with countries and partners to advance the long overdue objective of launching negotiations of an FMCT.
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