Madam Speaker, Canada has played a leadership role on nuclear non-proliferation, particularly through our G8 presidency this year and through our collaboration with the United States and other countries at President Obama's nuclear security summit.
On March 29 and 30, the Minister of Foreign Affairs hosted the G8 foreign ministers' meeting in Gatineau. Nuclear non-proliferation was a prominent agenda item. The minister led the negotiation of a G8 “Foreign Ministers' Statement on Nuclear Non-Proliferation, Disarmament, and Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Energy: A Contribution to the 2010 NPT Review Conference”.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs also led Canada's delegation and delivered Canada's statement at the opening of this important conference.
Canada's G8 statement helped to set the framework for discussions and to build bridges toward a clear, renewed commitment of the treaty on the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons. The review conference concluded successfully on May 28, in New York, with consensus on a final document, including an action plan with 64 steps on nuclear disarmament, non-proliferation and the peaceful uses of nuclear energy.
Among the key elements, the non-proliferation treaty commits each of its parties to pursue negotiations in good faith on effective measures relating to the cessation of the nuclear arms race and to nuclear disarmament. The final document of the review conference reaffirms the unequivocal undertaking by the nuclear weapons states to pursue nuclear disarmament and commits them to implement this undertaking.
We have seen major progress recently on disarmament. For example, the U.S. and Russia agreed to a new strategic arms reduction treaty. We know this as START. This treaty limits both sides to a maximum of 1,550 deployed strategic nuclear warheads. This is a sharp reduction from a limit of 6,000 under the predecessor treaty. Canada commends this concrete process, which will foster a more constructive atmosphere at the non-proliferation conference.
These efforts, complemented by the entry into force of the comprehensive nuclear test-ban treaty and the start of negotiations on a fissile material cut-off treaty are, in our view, concrete actions that will take us closer to a world free of nuclear weapons.
I would like to highlight the leadership of the Prime Minister on nuclear non-proliferation issues.
On April 12 and 13, the Prime Minister joined 46 leaders from other countries at President Obama's nuclear security summit.
Canada's objectives at the summit were to: underscore the seriousness of the nuclear terrorist threat; encourage states to strengthen their national nuclear security measures to enhance physical protection measures applied to nuclear material and facilities; increase international co-operation on nuclear security; endorse and contribute to President Obama's four year effort to secure all vulnerable nuclear material worldwide; and, finally, ensure that the summit supports broader non-proliferation and disarmament efforts.
Canada achieved its objectives at this summit. Among the specific outcomes, Canada, the U.S. and Mexico reached agreement to work together, along with the International Atomic Energy Agency, to convert the fuel in Mexico's research reactor from highly-enriched uranium to low-enriched uranium. This will enable the elimination of all the remaining highly-enriched uranium from Mexico and is an important step in advancing security and supporting Mexico's nuclear energy development.