Joint Statement on Cooperation - Russia And USA

Joint Statement on Cooperation on Strategic Stability

THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary (Okinawa, Japan)

For Immediate Release July 21, 2000

JOINT STATEMENT

COOPERATION ON STRATEGIC STABILITY

The United States and Russia underscore that continued strengthening of global stability and international security is one of the most important tasks today. The Joint Statement on Principles of Strategic Stability, adopted in Moscow on June 4, 2000, establishes a constructive basis for progress in further reducing nuclear weapons arsenals, preserving and strengthening the ABM Treaty and confronting new challenges to international security.

The United States and Russia have begun intensified discussions on the earliest entry into force of the START II Treaty, on further reductions in strategic forces within the framework of a future START III Treaty and on ABM issues.

The United States and Russia are dedicated to the search for new ways of cooperation to control the spread of missiles and missile technology. They will work together on a new mechanism to supplement the Missile Technology Control Regime. This mechanism would integrate the Russian proposal for a Global Monitoring System, the U.S. proposal for a missile code of conduct, as well as the mechanisms of the Missile Technology Control Regime, which the United States and Russia will continue to strengthen. They are prepared to expand their discussions of issues related to the threat of proliferation of missiles and missile technology.

The United States and Russia reaffirm their commitment to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons as the foundation of the international nuclear non-proliferation and nuclear disarmament regime. They will work to ensure early entry into force of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), and seek to expand cooperation related to the CTBT to promote mutually beneficial technical exchanges that will facilitate implementation of the CTBT after its entry into force.

Broadening their cooperation for the purpose of strengthening stability, the United States and Russia will apply their efforts toward creating, and placing into operation within the year, a joint U.S.-Russian center for exchange of data from early warning systems and notification of launches. They will seek to complete work on an agreement on pre-launch notification for launches of ballistic missiles and space launch vehicles, and on principles for opening this system to the voluntary participation of all interested countries.

The United States and Russia are prepared to renew and expand their cooperation in the area of theater missile defenses, and consider the possibility of involving other states.

The Presidents of the United States and Russia have agreed that officials will meet in the near future to coordinate their activities in this area.

Russia and the United States call upon the other nations of the G-8 and all other nations of the world to unite their efforts to strengthen strategic stability.

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