Remarks from NTI Vice President Corey Hinderstein
IPNDV 6th Plenary Meeting – London, United Kingdom
Opening Session – December 4, 2018
(As prepared)
Thank you to our hosts, the United Kingdom Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Ministry of Defence, for having us here. And thank you again to all of our participants, for your continued support and dedication.
As we meet here at the halfway point of Phase II, this is a critical time to do everything we can to ensure the successful outcome of this work and set ourselves up for a next phase.
Conveniently, those two goals are linked—and our homework starts now. I have three taskings for all in the room as we begin our week together: communicate, engage, and support. All three of these are linked together:
- We need to continue to communicate the value and importance of IPNDV both the process and the content we are creating together. Both sides of that coin are important. The end of phase deliverables should show the international community, and our own governments and leadership, the importance of this international, multi-governmental collaborative forum working in support of disarmament and arms control objectives. We are getting work done that is new, relevant, practical, and substantive. Our outreach challenge is clear and all of you are the best advocates. We want to continue to raise the profile of IPNDV, particularly among our political leaders.
- Our second task is to engage. Within your systems, I encourage you to start preparing now for the end of phase II in December 2019. This is not a partnership of the co-conveners, the U.S. Department of State and NTI, nor of the co-chairs. Please engage with other partners and seek the involvement of everyone in the room, because we need contributions from all. Diversity of input will lead us to better outcomes. We know not all participants can be regularly engaged in our work, but it is not too late to make a big contribution. As you, or your leadership, meet with counterparts in other IPNDV states, please include talking points that demonstrate why this partnership is worth your time and their active support.
- The third task is support. I encourage you to continue seeking political support to sustain the IPNDV’s ongoing work, and if you can, consider financially supporting the Partnership, now and into Phase III. But support can come in other ways too, such as providing necessary staff time, and attending meetings, exercises, tech demos, and outreach events. Additionally, we are very grateful to our hosts, because we recognize the time and resources that hosting requires. And lastly, I would be remiss to not mention NTI. We support the Partnership in many ways, including financially, and we have to raise our own money in order to do so. We do not accept U.S. Government funding to keep our independence. I want to thank our colleagues from Canada and the Netherlands for their financial support of NTI and this Partnership.
In conclusion, we seek to have the most impact possible from Phase II and to set up a meaningful and ambitious agenda for Phase III. I believe the IPNDV is the most successful international engagement currently working in the disarmament space. We can continue our momentum and success if we keep communicating the importance and the value of the partnership, engaging our leaders, the other partners, and the broader community, and gaining the political and budgetary support to maintain this Partnership.
