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A year ago I speculated  in my blog whether 2009 would be a
defining moment in multilateral arms control and disarmament - the brink or the
cusp.  12 months on the sign on the
door would probably read “Work in Progress”. I have written about the challenge
ahead in a recent blog in the Reuters Great Debate series

 

The political vision contained President
Obama’s Prague speech and  the  UN Security Council Summit Resolution underlined
that many world leaders endorsed the vision of  “A World Without Nuclear Weapons”. The UK’s political
leadership set out our own 
ambition in Lifting the Nuclear Shadow and The Road to 2010.

 

The immediate focus for this vision in the
multilateral arena is the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty Review Conference
which will take place in New York in May.

 

A few weeks ago the chairman of this
meeting and some of my fellow ambassadors met with civil society to discuss the
way forward. Several of us gave interviews which can be found on YouTube.

 

The BBC’s programme on the Foreign Office
and the media coverage of the Copenhagen summit have helped demystify modern
diplomacy for the wider public, but also shown just how difficult it is to get
nearly 200 countries to agree to something.

 

For those who want to follow our efforts to
make progress on this issue over coming months, the FCO have set up a webpage
drawing together the key documents and feeds from across the net.

 

May I end by wishing all my readers a
peaceful New Year and my thanks for following the blog.



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