The head of an international commission on nuclear disarmament on April 6 expressed the wish that Vietnam would lend a “constructive and helpful voice” to promoting nuclear disarmament.
Speaking with the press in Hanoi the same day, Prof. Gareth Evans, Co-Chair of the International Commission on Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament (ICNND), said that Vietnam has been a responsible and constructive member of the UN Security Council on this and other issues during its term there.
Prof. Evans, also the former Australian Foreign Minister, arrived in Vietnam on April 5 to present local leaders with the commission’s latest report entitled “Eliminating Nuclear Threats: A Practical Agenda for Global Policymakers.”
He said the purpose of his visit was to emphasise upon senior Vietnamese policy makers the urgency of nuclear-related issues and “also to encourage Vietnam to play a constructive and helpful role in the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) review conference” to be held this May.
The report, he said, seeks to address a whole range of policy-making issues and challenges relating to nuclear non-proliferation, disarmament and the peaceful uses of nuclear energy.
Prof. Evans’s visit came just a week before Vietnam’s attendance at the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington from April 12-13 and the 2010 NPT Review Conference in May.
He said Vietnam now has a special role and is a “moderate and sensible member” of the Non-aligned Movement and therefore its voice is very important.
“Vietnam has taken a responsible position, particularly on the question of its acquisition of nuclear energy facilities for peaceful production and in part by indicating it is not prepared nor does it want to establish uranium enrichment facilities of its own and will rely on the international mechanism to supply that material,” said the ICNND head.
This is, he added, an important message to new countries that are starting to develop nuclear energy that it is not necessary to have these sensitive facilities that can create materials that are used for nuclear weapons and cause real concerns of proliferation and terrorism.
In order to ensure national energy security amid the rising demand for industrial development, the Vietnamese National Assembly in November last year ratified the project on building a nuclear plant in the southern province of Ninh Thuan .
The plant construction is expected to start in 2014 and be completed in 2020.
According to the ICNND Co-chair, Vietnam is a responsible member of the NPT and therefore he believes there is an opportunity for it and Australia to establish a bilateral agreement on the supply of materials associated with the technology.
Earlier, on March 30, Vietnam and the US signed a memorandum of understanding on nuclear energy cooperation, which is considered a necessary foundation for the development of Vietnam’s peaceful civil nuclear energy programme.
Vietnam has so far inked bilateral nuclear cooperation deals with Russia , China , France , India , the Republic of Korea and Argentina./.
Speaking with the press in Hanoi the same day, Prof. Gareth Evans, Co-Chair of the International Commission on Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament (ICNND), said that Vietnam has been a responsible and constructive member of the UN Security Council on this and other issues during its term there.
Prof. Evans, also the former Australian Foreign Minister, arrived in Vietnam on April 5 to present local leaders with the commission’s latest report entitled “Eliminating Nuclear Threats: A Practical Agenda for Global Policymakers.”
He said the purpose of his visit was to emphasise upon senior Vietnamese policy makers the urgency of nuclear-related issues and “also to encourage Vietnam to play a constructive and helpful role in the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) review conference” to be held this May.
The report, he said, seeks to address a whole range of policy-making issues and challenges relating to nuclear non-proliferation, disarmament and the peaceful uses of nuclear energy.
Prof. Evans’s visit came just a week before Vietnam’s attendance at the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington from April 12-13 and the 2010 NPT Review Conference in May.
He said Vietnam now has a special role and is a “moderate and sensible member” of the Non-aligned Movement and therefore its voice is very important.
“Vietnam has taken a responsible position, particularly on the question of its acquisition of nuclear energy facilities for peaceful production and in part by indicating it is not prepared nor does it want to establish uranium enrichment facilities of its own and will rely on the international mechanism to supply that material,” said the ICNND head.
This is, he added, an important message to new countries that are starting to develop nuclear energy that it is not necessary to have these sensitive facilities that can create materials that are used for nuclear weapons and cause real concerns of proliferation and terrorism.
In order to ensure national energy security amid the rising demand for industrial development, the Vietnamese National Assembly in November last year ratified the project on building a nuclear plant in the southern province of Ninh Thuan .
The plant construction is expected to start in 2014 and be completed in 2020.
According to the ICNND Co-chair, Vietnam is a responsible member of the NPT and therefore he believes there is an opportunity for it and Australia to establish a bilateral agreement on the supply of materials associated with the technology.
Earlier, on March 30, Vietnam and the US signed a memorandum of understanding on nuclear energy cooperation, which is considered a necessary foundation for the development of Vietnam’s peaceful civil nuclear energy programme.
Vietnam has so far inked bilateral nuclear cooperation deals with Russia , China , France , India , the Republic of Korea and Argentina./.
