Norway welcomes President Obama’s new nuclear disarmament initiative

“I am pleased that the US is now seeking further cuts in deployed strategic nuclear weapons,” said Minister of Foreign Affairs Espen Barth Eide.

In a speech in Berlin on Wednesday, President Barack Obama announced that the US would negotiate with Russia with a view to reducing US strategic nuclear weapons by up to a third. The new initiative was launched shortly after President Obama’s talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the G8 summit in Northern Ireland.

The initiative is consistent with President Obama’s vision of a world free of nuclear weapons, which he launched in a speech in Prague in 2009, and will build on the progress already achieved with the New START Treaty in 2010.

President Obama also said that he would seek mutual bold reductions in tactical nuclear weapons in Europe. This is a category of nuclear weapons that is currently not covered by any disarmament agreement.

“We welcome the fact that President Obama intends to work with NATO allies to cut the number of short-range nuclear weapons in Europe. Together with Poland and other allies, Norway has put this topic on the Alliance’s agenda, and we are ready to work together with the US on this issue,” Mr Eide said.