Federal President Cassis promotes nuclear disarmament in New York

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the essentials in brief

• Ignazio Cassis left on Tuesday for a conference on the Non-Proliferation Treaty.
• At the meeting in New York, the Federal President promoted nuclear disarmament.

The global nuclear arsenal of currently around 13,000 nuclear weapons is to be reduced. Federal President Ignazio Cassis is campaigning for this at another conference on the Non-Proliferation Treaty in New York. Switzerland makes concrete proposals.

His arrival was scheduled for 7.35 p.m., as the EDA informed at the request of the Keystone-SDA news agency. On Wednesday night, Swiss time, the Federal President will appear at the conference and give his speech.

In it he wants to present a concrete package of measures to the conference on the review of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty. This provides for “decisive partial steps” for nuclear disarmament. The corresponding Stockholm Initiative was launched in 2019 by 16 countries, including Switzerland.

Switzerland wants to advocate a rethink

Switzerland wants to work “for new impetus in the implementation of existing agreements and for the negotiation of new agreements”. That wrote the FDFA. Cassis therefore wants to call on the nuclear powers at the conference to take more decisive steps towards disarmament. Existing agreements would have to be implemented and new agreements negotiated.

At the conference in New York, Switzerland wants to advocate a rethink. “Away from nuclear armament and the display of nuclear arsenals. Back on the path of arms control and disarmament,” wrote the FDFA in the run-up to the conference.

Switzerland attaches a key role to preventing the proliferation of nuclear weapons in maintaining peace in the world. This is in accordance with the Confederation’s foreign policy strategy 2020-2023. According to the FDFA, Switzerland is committed to a world without nuclear weapons.

Disarmament of the nuclear arsenal has stalled

The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty is the basis for nuclear disarmament worldwide. It bans the official nuclear powers USA, Russia, China, Great Britain and France from passing on nuclear weapons. Second, it aims to disarm the existing nuclear arsenal. Third, it allows all contracting states to use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.

However, the disarmament of the nuclear arsenal is currently difficult and has come to a standstill, as the FDFA admits. The initial situation was made even more difficult by Russia’s military aggression against Ukraine. Critics speak of pure lip service from the nuclear powers.