Telegram from Ambassador Trivedi, 'Non-Aligned Meeting'

Non-Aligned Meeting – June 7^th

Sent by Trivedi on June 13

No: AMB/DIS/67

…4^th meeting of the non-aligned group of this session was held on the 7^th of June, with Osman of the UAR in the chair…

…Silveira said that Brazil knew that we could not hope to have an “exact” balance in the treaty. The basic question was: Are we ready to sign a non-proliferation treaty without any obligations on the nuclear-weapon powers? Certain obligations inevitably felon the nuclear-weapon powers, for example, a halt in the nuclear arms race, guarantees of security, an assurance regarding the peaceful utilization of nuclear energy by non-nuclear-weapon powers. While the non-nuclear powers could agree to the nuclear-weapon powers having a monopoly of nuclear weapons, it would be completely wrong to let the nuclear-weapon powers enjoy a monopoly of nuclear research as well, as then we would be surrendering ourselves to the will of the nuclear-weapon powers.

Castaneda of Mexico remarked that while he agreed that there were certain essential elements in a balance of obligations, he would stress the fact that a non-proliferation treaty was a valuable objective worth seeking for its own sake. Again, it was a limited objective, because we could not hope to achieve nuclear disarmament under a non-proliferation treaty. He would also like to stress that there was no question of “compensation” in a non-proliferation treaty. As an example, there was the question of the peaceful uses of nuclear energy, for which the nuclear-weapon powers had to assume obligations. In the Mexican view, the assumption of such obligations by the nuclear-weapon powers should not be looked on as a compensatory measure but as a valid objective in itself…

…Silveira of Brazil said that a non-proliferation treaty should not become dogma, nor should the non-aligned accept semantic interpretations. It was obvious that the balance of obligations could not be a mechanical one and that the obligations to be undertaken should be valid themselves.