Norway welcomes new nuclear arms treaty

”The signing of a new nuclear arms treaty between the USA and Russia is an important step on the road towards a world without nuclear arms”, says Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg.

The New Start Treaty, signed by Presidents Barack Obama and Dimitry Medvedev in Prague today, is the first real disarmament treaty between the USA and Russia for close to 19 years.

”It is gratifying that the USA and Russia have agreed to reduce the number of deployed strategic nuclear warheads. I see this treaty as the initiation of a broader disarmament process which will include all types of nuclear arms, and which in the end will lead to a world without atomic weapons”, says Stoltenberg.

The Prime Minister also sees today’s treaty as an important signal before the next review conference of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

Prime Minister Stoltenberg will next week participate in the Global Nuclear Summit in Washington, which will focus on nuclear security and the prevention of nuclear terrorism.