23 June 2006
Bush Urges All Nations To Halt Illicit WMD Proliferation Trade
Proliferation Security Initiative supporters meet in Warsaw to expand on success
Washington – President Bush welcomed new supporters of the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI), including those in the Persian Gulf and Central Asia, as 60 PSI partners gathered in Warsaw for a high-level political meeting hosted by Poland.
“I join President Lech Kaczynski in welcoming PSI supporters,” Bush said in a June 23 White House statement, commending all attendees for their readiness to deny terrorist and rogue states access to weapons of mass destruction and related materials.
He urged “all responsible states to join this global effort to end the WMD proliferation trade.”
Since PSI was launched in Krakow in 2003, the initiative has expanded “from a handful of nations to a global partnership of more than 70 countries from all around the world,” the president said.
“Together, we are working to disrupt the financial activities of networks that support proliferation, as called for in United Nations Security Council Resolutions 1540 and 1673,” Bush said.
“Together, we are shutting down front companies and proliferation networks and interdicting cargo carrying these dangerous materials, whether transported by land, air or sea,” the President said.
PSI supporters are in Warsaw to network and identify ways to further enhance their ability to counter WMD proliferation, he added. (See related publication.)
POLISH FOREIGN MINISTER HIGHLIGHT’S PSI SUCCESS
Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs Anna Fotyga welcomed the attendees, saying that WMD proliferation calls for “decisive and consistent international action.”
She said there is good reason for satisfaction with the initiative’s accomplishments since a meeting in Krakow two years ago to commemorate the first anniversary of PSI. The network of participating PSI nations “is steadily expanding across the globe,” the Polish foreign minister said. “They now come from every region of the world,” Fotyga said, “and, most importantly, from the regions of greatest concern for WMD-related trafficking.”
The national legal instruments and military and law enforcement capabilities of individual PSI nations have enabled successful interdictions to occur, the foreign minister said. Since 2003, “PSI participants have greatly improved their abilities to interdict suspected shipments”, according to Fotyga. (See related article.)
The 60 nations gathered in Poland represent every continent, different political persuasions and economic systems, and varying cultures and religions. Their willingness to unite and work together on this particular issue, Fotyga said, “is a strong signal to any potential proliferator.”
The meeting’s agenda includes strategizing to increase the number of PSI supporters and planning additional outreach activities. Participants will review lessons learned from past PSI exercises and review the calendar of upcoming events. (See related article.)
Fotyga said participants would discuss PSI-related legal and financial issues and look at ways to develop closer ties with the international business community as a way of ensuring the long-term success of the initiative.
AEI NOTES PSI’S FLEXIBILITY, VOLUNTARY NATURE
The Washington-based American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research issued a report in January describing PSI as noteworthy because “it has matched the global threat of proliferation with a truly global coalition.” The report’s authors, Thomas Donnelly and Vance Serchuk, write that instead of cleaving transatlantic and transpacific relations into separate spheres, PSI encompasses both Asian maritime powers like Japan and Australia and European nations such as the Netherlands, Poland and the United Kingdom.
The flexibility of the initiative is reflected in its voluntary nature. Donnelly and Serchuk point to the various ways nations can participate -- ranging from sharing information to hosting meetings to participating in interdiction training. As an activity, PSI allows nations to do as much or as little as they choose.
The AEI report, “Transforming America’s Alliances,” states that PSI “is important in its application and interpretation of international law.” Its authors write that, rather than create a new elaborate legal architecture, the initiative builds upon “existing treaties, controls, and regimes against WMD proliferation that are currently being circumvented and violated.”
PSI’s most visible success to date has been its interdiction of the BBC China in October 2003. The freighter was intercepted en route to Libya with parts for uranium enrichment centrifuges onboard. This development has been credited with leading to the rollup of the A.Q. Khan nuclear network and to Libya’s decision to ultimately abandon its WMD programs. (See related article.)
For more information, see Arms Control and Non-Proliferation.
The full text of the president's statement on PSI is available on the White House Web site.
(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
