Statement by Ambassador Pankaj Sharma, Permanent Representative of India to the Conference on Disarmament, Geneva during Additional Plenary meeting of the Conference on Disarmament held on May 18, 2021

Mr. President,

India has always approached the issue of Nuclear Risk Reduction in a global context and consistently maintained that global issues like nuclear disarmament and nuclear risk reduction cannot be treated in a regional context, as suggested by some.

As mentioned during the last plenary session, India has been tabling an annual resolution in the UN General Assembly since 1998 on “Reducing Nuclear Danger”, which is supported by a vast majority of member States. It calls for, inter alia, a review of nuclear doctrines, and in this context, immediate and urgent steps to reduce the risks of unintentional and accidental use of nuclear weapons, including through de-alerting and de-targeting nuclear weapons. It calls upon Member States to take the measures necessary to prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons in all its aspects and to promote nuclear disarmament, with the objective of eliminating all nuclear weapons.

Similarly, I would like to make a reference once again to India’s Working Paper on Nuclear Disarmament submitted to the CD in 2007 (CD/1816), which had suggested a number of important steps, which are yet to be undertaken by the States that are relevant in this regard.

India stands ready to fulfil its part and expect that other States will do so too, so as to lead us to a nuclear weapon free world, which is the only guarantee to avoid any risk of nuclear weapons.