Another commitment that was agreed to was to continue the process of disarmament. There are only five countries who have not signed the treaty - Brazil, Cuba, India, Israel and Pakistan. However, he added that Brazil and Cuba had already signed the Latin America Nuclear Weapon Free Zone treaty. Protocols to establish the enhanced verification system have been agreed to and been sent to the treaty parties for their approval, added Graham. So there is very great progress in disarmament and it is progress that would have been unimaginable 10 years ago.
More progress is ahead and there is more to do.
It helps to strengthen the nuclear non-proliferation treaty regime worldwide and strengthens the barriers against these weapons of mass destruction. We commend Asean for negotiating this treaty. When asked how the US would like it resolved, Graham replied that the most important thing is for language to be agreed upon that makes it clear that the negative security assurance does not apply to anyone and anywhere but the parties and their territories. He reiterated that this was the principal problem. This means that we would be telling Russia that we wouldn't be using nuclear weapons against them or we would be giving China a negative security assurance.