Meanwhile, regional nuclear weapon free zones help to fortify a larger NPT regime of global scope. In gathering to review the status of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, we can identify much valuable progress in strengthening several key elements of the global regime that surrounds it. In the IAEA safeguards system, the past five years have seen major, indeed historic improvements. In June 1995 members of the Agency decided to adopt new measures to be implemented under authority already in existence. Then, in May 1998, members agreed to strengthen safeguards still further by establishing significant new measures under the Additional Protocol, known more formally as the Model Protocol Additional to Safeguards Agreements.
Optimization means achieving maximum effectiveness with rigorous efficiency.
We commend the efforts of the IAEA secretariat and Agency Member States to attain this goal, and we welcome the progress to date. Any change to traditional safeguards must meet several tests. And it must be balanced, continuing to rely on fundamentally important traditional measures such as nuclear material accountancy while augmenting their value with a carefully chosen array of measures newly introduced. The new system should provide assurance of the absence of undeclared nuclear activity, while continuing to provide assurance of the non-diversion of nuclear material from declared activity. With this broader scope, safeguards will strengthen the NPT regime and thereby contribute even more to international security.