E-mail australiargun.mt

AUSTRALIAN MISSION TO THE UNITED NATIONS

150 East 42nd Street, New York NY 10017-5612

Ph212-3516600

Fax212-3516610 www.AustraliaUN.org

2010 Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on theNon-proliferation of Nuclear Weapons
6 May 2010

General DebateStatement by H.E. Peter Woolcott
Ambassador and Permanent Representativeof Australia to the Conference on Disarmament
On behalf of the Vienna Group of Ten(Check against delivery)

Mr President
I have the honor to take the floor on behalf of the members of the Vienna Group of Ten:
Austria, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand,Norway, Sweden and my own country Australia.
At the outset let me congratulate your election as President of the 20 I0 NPT Review
Conference. We assure you and the other members of your team of our full support asyou guide us in our work over the coming weeks.
The group shares with other States Party, a desire to make a constructive contribution to a
successful 20 I0 NPT Review Conference. The Group considers that the NPT provides
vital security and other benefits to all States parties. The Treaty confers a set ofinterrelated and mutually reinforcing obligations on States parties, notably with respect todisarmament, non-proliferation and co-operation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy.
Strengthening the role of the NPT as the cornerstone of our international disarmamentand non-proliferation regime will require progress on all three pillars.
The Vienna Group's focus is on the traditional "Vienna issues" of non-proliferation andpeaceful uses of nuclear energy. Our aim has been to contribute to a successful review ofNPT Articles III and IV and related issues, as well as to develop forward-lookingstrategies in these areas.

-2To this end, the Vienna Group has prepared working papers on seven topics: peacefuluses of nuclear energy, approaches to the nuclear fuel cycle, compliance and verification,
export controls, nuclear safety, physical protection and illicit trafficking, and CTBT.
These are numbered conference working papers 15-21.
Each paper proposes specific draft review language for the 2010 Review Conference
outcomes document.
In addition, the Vienna Group has submitted a separate working paper proposing a
number of specific elements which might be considered for inclusion in any forwardlooking Action Plan to be adopted by the Conference. This has been circulated asconference working paper 38.
These proposed elements relate mainly to those aspects of the Treaty that are associatedwith Vienna-based forums and organisations, and thus are not intended to represent anexhaustive list of elements for a possible action plan.
Mr President

The Vienna Group's proposed language and elements have been drafted with a view topromoting convergence on a number of key issues of relevance to Treaty implementation.
The language has been crafted in a moderate way, mindful of other States parties'positions
I wish to commend these papers to you, your team and to all the delegations at thisconference. It is our hope that the papers will assist in building consensus on thisimportant set of issues.
The members of the Vienna Group, acting in their national capacities, look forward toworking with other delegations in a constructive and positive spirit over coming weeks.