This zone and others, like those in Latin America, South East Asia and Africa, creates a moral architecture around the world. I want to see nuclear free zones, like this, spread further in your and my lifetimes. New Zealand sought to combat the prevailing pessimism of the last years of the 1990s, following nuclear testing by India and Pakistan and joined together with the governments of seven like-minded countries to establish the New Agenda Coalition. Now that the cold war is over, the World has an opportunity to not only reduce, but to eliminate nuclear weapons. And this is where New Zealand once more wants to play a positive role, now that we again have a centre left Labour government.
New Agenda is a circuit-breaker.
The New Agenda countries are Brazil, Egypt, Ireland, Mexico, New Zealand, Slovenia, South Africa and Sweden. We collectively share your frustration that there have been so many resolutions and initiatives which remain unfulfilled in this century. It was with a sense of purpose that New Zealand participated in the Conference on Disarmament and in the United Nations Non-Proliferation Conference earlier this year. The outcomes of the Non-Proliferation Treaty Revision Conference have generally been regarded as exceeding expectations. This heightens hopes for future disarmament negotiations especially in the next five year review period.