Rede auf der 46. Münchner Sicherheitskonferenz - 06.02.2010

First of all, thank you, Wolfgang, for your kind invitation and for giving me the chance to meet old friends and to make some remarks on disarmament, specifically nuclear disarmament.

I remember very well: when I addressed this issue for the first time at this conference – that might be three or four years ago – I did notice some frowning and smiling in the faces of some of the participants after my speech.

The reason for that was quite obvious. And it was underlined by comments from the audience: for some of the participants, disarmament seemed to be an issue from a past century. And there even were many commentators in the audience who considered the call for “nuclear disarmament” as dangerous or at least naïve!

I am glad that we have come past this point of perception in the last three years and that we managed to unlock the long lasting standstill in international discussions on arms control and disarmament, not least due to the initiatives of Henry Kissinger, Sam Nunn, William Perry, George Schultz, Helmut Schmidt, Hans-Dietrich Genscher, Egon Bahr and Richard von Weizsäcker and similar initiatives around the world.

Nobody took it for granted that we might be able to give this discussion new momentum. During our German G8-presidency, I was in a panel discussion with Henry Kissinger and John Scowcroft in New York. I was really surprised how strongly Kissinger himself and other representatives of a classical “Realpolitik” called for a revival of “arms control policy”. On this occasion we had the idea to bring the US-4 Henry Kissinger, George Shultz, Sam Nunn and William Perry together with their former colleagues and partners from Germany Helmut Schmidt, Hans-Dietrich Genscher, Egon Bahr und Richard von Weizsäcker. The plan we jointly agreed on was to include in a second step a Russian quartet into this dialogue in order to make the revival of the disarmament discussion an east-west initiative right from the beginning. Due to the elections in Germany we were not able to keep the envisaged date for the meeting in summer 2009. But I am very glad that the first meeting of the dual quartet took place on Tuesday this week, right in time for this conference. And that their meeting with a “Russian quartet” is planned for December this year!

All these and many other activities around the world were necessary to revive the vision of “Global Zero”. But we are realistic enough to know that it wouldn’t have worked without a president Obama in the USA and a president Medwedew in Russia. And their willingness to leave tensions of the past behind and to rebuild mutual trust.

That is the way on which we have to continue. Trust is the most important basis to reach progress in arms control and disarmament. And the best way of building trust is through practical, visible actions.

I see three options for setting clear signals in the near future:

Firstly – a timely conclusion of the talks on the START-treaty. And I am hearing from the two capitals that this is realistic. For the work on the substance of a new START-treaty is done.

Secondly, the ratification of the nuclear test ban treaty by the US-Senate. That would be a huge step forward and would put pressure on others.

And thirdly: reaching tangible results at the NTP-review-conference in May.

I personally would very much appreciate if the USA and Russia would agree on a common initiative toward the review conference.

If all this really worked out, that would mean notable progress. But still there is a lot to do in other areas. Let me throw in a few points:

Very important from my point of view: sub-strategic, tactical nuclear weapons. So far we do not have any contractual basis for controlling and reducing these weapons. The time is ripe to address this issue as soon as possible and to start exploratory talks immediately after signing the START-treaty.

We should – not only with regard to Iran – also keep working on the so called “cut off”, that is to cease the production of fissile materials for weapons purposes. In this issue, we have to get away from unilateral moratoriums to tackling the problem of nuclear arms at its root.

And we need to find an answer to the question how to address the dangers arising from the growing civil use of nuclear energy.

The key word here is: the multilateralism of the nuclear fuel cycle. The goal must be that, wherever enrichment takes place, it must be controlled by the International Atomic Energy Agency. And we have to work on guarantees for supplying those civil users who are willing to abandon enrichment technology.

Besides that – and most urgently – we have to solve the conflict with Iran. We know: Iran with nuclear weapons would be a threat for the whole Middle-Eastern Region, even the world!

I hope and I appeal to the leadership in Teheran that the cautious signals of openness to international solutions, which we heard at the beginning of this week, will very soon be followed by actions. Remember the old saying which is also respected in international diplomacy: Deeds speak louder than words. And they are more credible!

These few remarks show: There is a lot of work to be done. But with regard to some of the progress we have made so far: There is no reason to be afraid of an ambitious agenda even if the reality of Global Zero is far away. The direction matters.