President Barack Obama has called upon India and Pakistan to make progress in reducing their nuclear arsenal and ensuring that they are not “continually moving in the wrong direction” while developing military doctrines.
Bringing up the issue at his news conference on conclusion of the two-day Nuclear Security Summit on Friday, Obama at the same time admitted
that the United States and Russia have to lead the way in achieving huge reductions in nukes globally.
“One of the challenges that we’re going to have here is that it is very difficult to see huge reductions in our nuclear arsenal unless the US and Russia, as the two largest possessors of nuclear weapons, are prepared to lead the way,” he said.
Then turning to the Indian subcontinent, he commented, “The other area where I think we need to see progress is Pakistan and India, that subcontinent, making sure that as they develop military doctrines, that they are not continually moving in the wrong direction.”
Focusing on the North Korean nuclear challenge, Obama said Pyongyang “is in a whole different category and poses the most immediate set of concerns for all of us, one that we are working internationally to focus on”. This issue had figured prominently at the trilateral meeting that Obama held with the leaders of Japan and Korea, as also during his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinpeng.
A communique adopted by the summit that was attended by leaders from more than 50 countries, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, reaffirmed the “commitment to our shared goals of nuclear disarmament, nuclear non-proliferation and peaceful use of nuclear energy”.
It noted that measures to strengthen nuclear security will not hamper the rights of States to develop and use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. At the same time, it highlighted the fundamental responsibility of States to fulfil their obligations by maintaining effective security at all times of all nuclear and other radioactive material, including that used in nuclear weapons, and nuclear facilities under their control.
On the question of preventing non-State actors from obtaining nuclear and other radioactive materials that could be used for malicious purposes, the communique noted that more work remains to be done, adding: “We commit to fostering a peaceful and stable international environment by reducing the threat of nuclear terrorism and strengthening nuclear security.”
Reaffirming the essential responsibility and central role of the International Atomic Energy Agency in strengthening the global nuclear security architecture and in developing international guidance, the document welcomed the IAEA move to convene an international conference on nuclear security in December to maintain political momentum on this issue.