Bulgarian Foreign Minister Urges Iran, North Korea to Back Non-Proliferation

Bulgarian Foreign Minister Mladenov addressed the UN NPT Conference in New York on Monday. Photo by Foreign Ministry

Bulgaria’s Foreign Minister Nikolay Mladenov has spoken in favor of boosting the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) during a UN conference in New York.

“Today the world is in a critical moment of the development of the regime for the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons. If we don’t use this opportunity to oppose the proliferation of nuclear weapons, and don’t create an impulse for its total elimination, we will prolong the period of indecisiveness which will be used by all those who are against the NPT to become stronger and more dangerous,” Mladenov warned in his speech before the conference.

The UN Conference on the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty on Monday brought together a number of world leaders including US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, and EU High Representative for Foreign Policy, Catherine Ashton.

In a statement released Tuesday, the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry points out that the previous UN NPT Conference took place in 2005 without any notable agreement on the issues of nuclear proliferation such as the failure of key nuclear states to join or ratify the NPT, and the lack of proper mechanisms for sanctions in the event of its violation.

According to the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry, the majority of countries, which took part in the UN NPT conference, have seen the forum as a good foundation for achieving progress on the respective issues.

“Bulgaria believes that every singly country has to make the establishing of a strong nuclear non-proliferation regime a cornerstone of its national diplomacy. All of us must confirm their commitment by working to achieve the goals of the NPT – disarmament, nuclear non-proliferation, and the use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes,” Bulgaria’s top diplomat said before the UN conference.

Mladenov has called upon People’s Democratic Republic of Korea to return to the table of the six-party talks in order to secure the de-nuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

He also urged Iran to obey the resolutions of the Security Council of the UN and to apply the standards of the International Atomic Energy Agency while emphasizing that Iran needed to reply now to the proposals of the international community.

“Let us be worthy of the historic opportunity that we have to restrict the proliferation of nuclear weapons until their total elimination,” the Bulgarian Foreign Minister concluded.

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