Undersecretary Lourdes Aranda, Undersecretary Patricia Olamendi, Minister Emma Rodriguez, Ambassador Edmundo Vargas, Excellencies, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen.

Thank you for the invitation to address you this evening.

It is a privilege to be in Mexico. New Zealand has always regarded Mexico as an important friend because we work closely across so many international issues, often sharing the same ideals..

As far back as the formation of the United Nations at the San Francisco conference in 1945, our then Prime Minister, Peter Fraser, identified Mexico as one of the countries with which New Zealand “shared a mutual understanding, sympathy and enthusiasm”. Sixty years later, New Zealand is pleased to be participating in the group of Friends of UN Reform convened by Mexico.

I’m here in Mexico for a conference to promote cooperation among the five nuclear weapon free zones. I’m pleased that I’m also able to take up this opportunity for a wider discussion on ways to pursue nuclear disarmament in a changing strategic environment.

I am heartened by the diversity of tonight’s audience. In any discussion on disarmament, it seems to me particularly important to engage with as wide a range of perspectives as possible.

We all have a stake in ensuring a nuclear weapon free world. On the road towards that goal, we will need the support and engagement of scholars, parliamentarians, non-governmental organisations, diplomats, in conjunction with civil society as a whole. I welcome you all to tonight’s discussion.

A shared disarmament history

New Zealand and Mexico have a shared history of activism on the nuclear disarmament front. Despite existing in very different geographical and strategic environments, we have both felt compelled to speak out against the nuclear weapons, demanding an end to their development, testing and use under any circumstances.

Such is the immense destructive power of nuclear weapons, Mexico and New Zealand both realised that no location, however remote, would be insulated from the effects of nuclear war. Had nuclear war ever broken out between the major powers, the way of life for the entire global community would have been altered forever. Mexico has as its neighbour a nuclear weapon state, whereas we in the South Pacific are from the nuclear protagonists. But nuclear war is a global war. No one can hide from it.

For New Zealand, the use of nuclear weapons and nuclear testing in our region gave us further cause to speak out. The nuclear testing programmes of major powers caused widespread environmental damage to fragile coral atolls and innocent communities.

Nuclear testing in the Pacific in the 1960s and 70s, in tandem with the general climate of fear regarding potential nuclear use during the Cold War, mobilised a strong civil society movement against nuclear weapons.

In 1987, New Zealand, with the close involvement of our current Prime Minister Helen Clark, passed legislation declaring the country to be nuclear free. We did so because of our belief that the possession or use of nuclear weapons was immoral, and because we know that nuclear war would be a catastrophe for our planet.

New Zealand’s Nuclear Free Zone, Disarmament, and Arms Control Act bans the entry of all nuclear weapons and nuclear powered vessels. It has enjoyed a consistently high level of public support since it was first introduced and has support across the political spectrum.

In parallel, Mexico has a particularly distinguished history of activism on nuclear disarmament. Mexico’s push to create the first regional nuclear weapon free zone treaty, driven largely by one of your most eminent disarmament envoys, Ambassador Alfonso García Robles (Pron: roe-bleeze) , demonstrated the power of effective multilateral diplomacy at its best.

Concluded in 1967 here in Tlatelolco, (pro: tlah-tay-loe-co) this treaty stands as the first positive affirmation of regional solidarity against nuclear weapons. It eliminated any potential for nuclear tensions in Latin America and the Caribbean by prohibiting the development, stationing, testing or use of nuclear weapons anywhere within the region.

The Tlatelolco Treaty provided leadership and inspiration to encourage other regions of the world to create similar zones. In 1985, my own region, the Pacific, followed suit and created a nuclear weapon free zone modelled in Tlatelolco’s image, under the Rarotonga Treaty.

Other regional nuclear weapon free zones followed – there are now five completed, although the Pelindaba Treaty covering Africa has yet to enter into force. It remains my fervent hope that one day we will have regional nuclear weapon free zones extending across the entire Southern Hemisphere, and even further afield.

Mexico and New Zealand have continued to push for nuclear disarmament together in international negotiations. We are both founding members of the New Agenda Coalition, a cross-regional group which was formed in 1998 to push for accelerated implementation of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty’s disarmament obligations. We are joined in this work by Brazil, Egypt, Ireland, South Africa and Sweden.

The operating principles of the New Agenda coalesce around the fundamental belief that the only guarantee for a safe and peaceful world is the complete elimination of nuclear weapons and the undertaking that they will never be produced again.

This message is all the more relevant today, especially in a world where security concerns have shifted so significantly. There has never before been a more urgent need for all states including the five nuclear weapon states to deliver on their commitments under the regime of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) in the common interest.

New challenges

We must acknowledge that the security dynamic has changed since the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001.

Logic dictates that the threat of non-state actors gaining access to nuclear material should make progress on nuclear disarmament even more paramount. What does not exist cannot proliferate.

However, the new strategic environment conversely seems to have made international negotiations on disarmament more difficult. In times of uncertainty, those states which possess nuclear weapons seem unwilling to relinquish any potential security advantage.

In order to energise the nuclear disarmament debate in the midst of pre-occupations with non-proliferation, we need to market disarmament as an additional tool for addressing proliferation concerns.
We must resist the argument that those who concentrate on disarmament are missing the ‘main game’ of non-proliferation. It is not a choice between one or the other. We have been clear that disarmament and non-proliferation are mutually reinforcing processes, requiring continuous irreversible progress on both fronts.

New Zealand has established credentials on non-proliferation. It is obviously in our interests to control the spread of nuclear weapons.

We are participating in many non-proliferation initiatives, including the G8 Global Partnership Against Weapons of Mass Destruction, export control regimes, the Proliferation Security Initiative, implementation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1540, and the International Atomic Energy Agency Nuclear Security Fund.

In addition, New Zealand works in Vienna with a group of countries known as the G10 on nuclear non-proliferation issues such as verification of peaceful use, nuclear safety and security, illicit trafficking, and the recent proposals concerning nuclear fuel cycle technology.

However, work on non-proliferation requires parallel work on disarmament. We must not lose sight of our ultimate goal: the elimination of all nuclear weapons so that they cannot be used ever again.
Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty
I’m sure I don’t need to remind members of this audience that the Review Conference of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) starts next week in New York.
I was struck by a recent quote from Jayantha Dhanapala, previous UN Under-Secretary-General for Disarmament Affairs and President of the 1995 Review Conference.
Dhanapala observed: “Of all the challenges ahead for the treaty, complacency is arguably the greatest to overcome, because the NPT is not implemented on auto-pilot. It requires constant vigilance, care and attention, not just by responsible government officials, but also by the non-governmental community, the news media, and the general public – for though governments implement the treaty, the people ultimately control the governments.”
All states need to take up the opportunity of the Review Conference to encourage active implementation of the NPT.
Even as non-nuclear weapon states, there is much we can do to support and encourage better implementation of the Treaty. In many of these areas, New Zealand and Mexico will be working together.
First and foremost, we will be working in the New Agenda Coalition, to push for accelerated implementation of the practical steps to nuclear disarmament agreed in 2000.
In addition, New Zealand and Mexico share a focus on the importance of building-up a regular reporting regime under the Treaty. Annual reporting on states’ individual progress in implementing NPT commitments would increase transparency within the regime. The submission of regular reports by all NPT states would be a significant measure for confidence-building and strengthening the Treaty’s review process.
We agree that powers to implement the Treaty’s verification provisions should be strengthened. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) needs all possible tools to support its work on verification of peaceful nuclear programmes.

In this context, Mexico’s recent ratification of the IAEA’s Additional Protocol is a most welcome development. In New Zealand’s view, the Additional Protocol is now the verification standard required by the Treaty. Strengthened safeguards are a vital component of a strengthened NPT regime as a whole.

Another concrete step for strengthening active implementation of the Treaty is the promotion of disarmament education initiatives. Dhanapala’s quote reminds us of the people whom the NPT serves – the entire global community, and the need to engage those people in the process of ensuring the Treaty’s implementation.

Mexico and New Zealand are working together with a group of countries (led by Japan) on ways to improve processes contributing to disarmament education. We will present a paper at the Review Conference which looks at concrete methods for improving the dissemination of information and strengthening links between multilateral disarmament processes and the wider community.

Everyone has a stake in ensuring that the disarmament and non-proliferation commitments of the Treaty are fulfilled. Citizens must be informed so that governments can be held to account if adequate progress is not made.

There has been much talk of challenges to the NPT since the last Review Conference in 2000. I firmly believe that during our upcoming deliberations, we should not approach the treaty as being ‘in crisis’, but should look at how we can work to strengthen it through active implementation on our parts, and encouraging the same level of participation from others.

Throughout this process, we must keep the Treaty’s overarching goal at the forefront of our minds – the elimination of all nuclear arsenals. The agreed disarmament commitment contained in Article VI of the NPT remains the foundation on which we build all of our international nuclear disarmament efforts.
It is the only agreed undertaking by nuclear weapon states towards nuclear disarmament, and was reaffirmed by the “unequivocal undertaking” made at the 2000 Review Conference.
We must approach this Review Conference with energy, enthusiasm and determination in our work to make this commitment a reality.
Conclusion
Mexico and NZ have a long history of working in partnership on nuclear disarmament. We share common goals and philosophies with regard to ridding the world of nuclear weapons. Our work together is ever more important in the current evolving global strategic environment.

I want to take this opportunity to thank Mexico for your work on this week’s nuclear weapon free zone conference and for being such gracious hosts. The conference gives us an opportunity to propagate regional cooperation against nuclear weapons, and to send a message of renewed solidarity to the NPT Review Conference.
We are committed to engaging with all states parties at the upcoming NPT Review Conference on ways to bring about a nuclear weapon free world. We will encourage active participation in the review process on improved measures for confidence-building and transparency towards that end.