The International Conference on Preventing Nuclear Catastrophe

The International Conference on Preventing Nuclear Catastrophe was held in Luxembourg on May 24-25, 2007. It was an unprecedented gathering of leading international experts on nuclear proliferation and the erosion of existing safeguards.

The level of its participants made the conference the largest and most authoritative event to address the issue of nuclear non-proliferation in the last decade. Leading experts from 14 nations attended the conference, including Mohamed ELBARADEI, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); Rolf EKEUS, High Commissioner on National Minorities of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe; Sergey KIRIENKO, Head of the Russian Federal Agency of Atomic Energy, former Prime Minister of the Russian Federation, William PERRY, Member of the Weapons of Mass Destruction Commission (WMDC), Professor (Stanford University), former U.S. Secretary of Defense; Hans BLIX, Chairman of the WMDC and former IAEA Director General, Nikolay LAVEROV, Academician, Vice President of the Russian Academician of Sciences and others.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, Deputy Prime Minister of Israel Avigdor Lieberman, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs of Luxembourg Jean Asselborn sent official welcome addresses to the Conference.

As a high-level scientific and practical gathering, the conference discussed new challenges and threats to the Non-Proliferation Treaty and its regime, as well as the outlook for the treaty's development as the regime's supporting framework, the threat of nuclear terrorism, the issue of control over nuclear technologies, possible means of international cooperation in this area, enhancement of IAEA safeguards and export control mechanisms, and the existing situation in rogue states and regions (the Middle East, the Korean Peninsula and South Asia).

The conference differed from many similar gatherings, in that it was aimed at formulating specific practical suggestions and recommendations on dealing with nuclear security issues. Scientists and experts prepared a final document of the conference - its Declaration, containing proposals to avoid the collapse of the Non-Proliferation Treaty, as well as a number of initiatives to resolve nuclear issues.

The Luxembourg conference declaration was officially presented in Moscow on December 18, 2007. On the eve of the presentation, the declaration was circulated to heads of state throughout the world, top-tier politicians and heads of major international organisations. Among its addressees were U.S. President George BUSH, President of Russia Vladimir Putin, Iranian President Mahmoud AHMADINEJAD, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud OLMERT, French President Nicolas SARKOZY, German Chancellor Angela MERKEL, UN Secretary General BAN Ki-moon, NATO Secretary General Jaap De Hoop SCHEFFER, President of the European Commission José Manuel BARROSO and Secretary General of the Council of Europe Terry DAVIS.