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Statement by the Republic of Lithuania

First Committee of the General Assembly

Thematic discussion on Nuclear Weapons

16 October 2012, New York

Mr. Chairman,

Since it is the first time Lithuania is taking the floor in this session of the First Committee, let me sincerely congratulate Ambassador Percaya of Indonesia on his election and offer full support of my delegation.

Lithuania associates itself with the statement delivered by the European Union and would like to touch upon a few issues of particular importance to my delegation.

We welcome the successful outcome of the NPT Review Conference of 2010 and this year's first session of the Preparatory Committee for the 2015 NPT Review Conference.

At the same time, it is very unfortunate that this year the Conference on Disarmament has again failed to engage in substantive work. In this regard, Lithuania supports all efforts that aim to find the way out of this impasse. In particular, we welcome the efforts by Canada to establish the Group of Governmental Experts that would further elaborate the provisions of a future treaty banning the production of fissile material. While all items on the CD agenda are important, FMCT has reached a level of sufficient maturity to start formal negotiations and remains an essential step for both nuclear disarmament and nonproliferation.

Mr. Chairman,

World free of nuclear weapons remains our general vision for the future. In the meantime, effective implementation of existing multilateral and bilateral agreements related to nuclear arms control and further disarmament paves the way to achieving this ultimate goal. In this context, Lithuania, as a non-Nuclear Weapon State, considers confidence building measures, reciprocal transparency and verification as an integral and essential part of the nuclear arms control and disarmament process.

The First session of the Preparatory Committee gave a positive impetus for the 2015 NPT review cycle. We should build on this momentum in order to achieve substantial progress during forthcoming meetings. The NPT regime should be further strengthened on the basis of the 2010 Action Plan, in all its three mutually reinforcing pillars – disarmament, non-proliferation and peaceful use of nuclear energy. We also share concerns regarding proliferation challenges, which must be effectively addressed by the international community in order to maintain the credibility of the NPT regime.

Lithuania welcomes successful implementation of the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) concluded between the United States of America and the Russian Federation. We would like to see this cooperation expand beyond strategic nuclear weapons and in particular making nonstrategic nuclear weapons a part of arms reduction treaties.

Lithuania remains a staunch supporter of global efforts in countering nuclear security threats. The very successful Nuclear Security Summit in Seoul laid a firm background for intensified international cooperation in strengthening the efforts to counter nuclear security threats worldwide. Lithuania has participated in the Summit and subscribes fully to the summit’s communiqué. The recently established Nuclear Security Centre of Excellence in Medininkai, Lithuania, would be a good platform in achieving these goals.

Finally, we hope that the progress we have achieved thus far will not end here and we will finish this year with a successful Helsinki Conference on the WMD free zone in the Middle East. Lithuania would like to express its full support for the efforts of the facilitator Under-Secretary of State Jaakko Laajava of Finland. We admire his hard work in trying to reconcile divergent views and call on all States to assist him in order to successfully convene the Conference by the end of this year. We also would like to call upon all States in the Middle East to take part in this important Conference without preconditions.