Emily Thornberry – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2016-05-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps the Government has taken to facilitate the start of negotiations on the proposed Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty in the last 12 months.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

The UK continues to push for the early start of negotiations, without preconditions, on a Fissile Material Cut off Treaty (FMCT) in the Conference on Disarmament (CD). In order to help unblock the current impasse, earlier this year we submitted a draft proposal to establish a formal working group and an associated programme of work for the duration of the CD’s 2016 session, which includes provision for FMCT issues to be included.

We also supported the resolution at last year’s UN General Assembly First Committee on issues surrounding an FMCT and we continue to work with partners in the CD to press Pakistan to start negotiations.