Groups to focus on monitoring and verification objectives,
on-site inspections, and technical challenges
OSLO, NORWAY—Today marked the conclusion of the second Plenary meeting of the International Partnership for Nuclear Disarmament Verification (IPNDV), an initiative led by the U.S. Department of State, in cooperation with the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI), to build capacity among states with and without nuclear weapons and to develop technical solutions for monitoring and verification challenges.
Norwegian Foreign Minister, Børge Brende, welcomed attendees from 25 countries to the meeting in Oslo, Norway, where the International Partnership launched three expert working groups and defined a plan of work for the first, two-year phase of the project. The first working group, led by the Netherlands and Italy, will address key monitoring and verification objectives; the second, led by Australia and Poland, will review the lessons learned from various on-site inspections regimes and determine what can be applied to nuclear disarmament verification; and the third, led by the United States and Sweden, will examine technologies that could be used to support future disarmament initiatives.
Meeting attendees also visited the Institute for Energy Technology (IFE) to see first-hand the facilities, technologies, and procedures that were developed and implemented through the UK-Norway Initiative. Japan announced that it will host the next Partnership meeting in 2016.
“This Partnership is part of a ‘full spectrum’ approach to advancing NPT nuclear disarmament goals through practical steps along all available avenues,” said U.S. Assistant Secretary of State of Arms Control, Verification, and Compliance, Frank Rose. “Today, after nearly a year of preparation, we are ready to begin this complex and meaningful technical work.”
“Each of the three working groups is focused on specific deliverables,” said Andrew Bieniawski, NTI Vice President for Material Security and Minimization. “This approach will ensure a results-driven partnership that will develop valuable tools and products to advance nuclear disarmament verification.”
To advance the work of the Partnership, NTI released a new Monitoring and Verification Resource Collection, a first-of-its-kind, online, publicly-available library of studies and reports on key aspects of disarmament verification by governments, national laboratories, international organizations, and independent institutions.
The International Partnership is a multi-year, public-private partnership, convened by the U.S. Department of State and the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI). The Partnership brings together states with a range of monitoring and verification experience to strengthen trust and cooperation on areas of mutual interest and help create a common understanding of the challenges and constraints some monitoring and verification activities impose. Announced in Prague, in December 2014, by U.S. Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security, Rose Gottemoeller, the IPNDV’s inaugural meeting took place in Washington, DC, in March 2015.
About the Nuclear Threat Initiative
The Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI) is a non-profit, non-partisan organization working to protect our lives, livelihoods, environment, and quality of life now, and for future generations, from the growing risk of catastrophic attacks from weapons of mass destruction and disruption (WMDD)—nuclear, biological, radiological, chemical and cyber. Founded in 2001, by former U.S. Senator Sam Nunn, and philanthropist, Ted Turner, NTI is guided by a prestigious, international board of directors. Joan Rohlfing serves as president.
NTI CONTACT: Cathy Gwin, 202-454-7706, gwin@nti.org
STATE CONTACTS: Blake Narendra, 202-301-3172, NarendraBM@state.gov; Lauren Gillis, 202-647-4631, GillisLM@state.gov
