Leading Global Experts on Nuclear Disarmament and Non-Proliferation to Discuss Nuclear Security Issues at the Luxembourg Forum Conference in Berlin

On June 4-5, 2012, Berlin will host the anniversary conference of the Luxembourg Forum on Preventing Nuclear Catastrophe attended by leading global experts on nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation. The event billed as “Contemporary Problems of Nuclear Non-Proliferation” will mark five years since the Forum founding. The conference will discuss crucial issues related to international security, ways to overcome nuclear crises and deadlocks, and how to resolve issues of nuclear arms proliferation and disarmament.

The conference is to be attended by influential statespersons and international experts, including, former United States Secretary of Defense William Perry, Luxembourg Forum President Viatcheslav Kantor, Vice President of the Russian Academy of Sciences Nikolay Laverov, former Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov, Head of Division of Peaceful Use of Nuclear Power at the German Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs Susanne Baumann, President of the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs Jayantha Dhanapala, Chairman of the Governing Board of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute Göran Lennmarker, Federal Commissioner for Disarmament and Arms Control at the German Federal Foreign Office Rolf Nikel, and Director of the East-West Center at the University of Maryland, Academician of the Russian Academy of Science Roald Sagdeev.

The conference will focus on the current state and perspectives of nuclear arms reduction and limitation, perspectives of nuclear non-proliferation, the role of the UN Security Council and IAEA in promoting non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. The experts will also discuss the state of the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty after the 2010 NPT review conference.

As usual, close attention will be paid to the current state of the nuclear problem of Iran and ways to resolve it, as well as ways to overcome the North Korean nuclear crisis. The conference will also consider escalating regional issues of nuclear non-proliferation.

Experts on strategic stability, offensive and defensive arms representing all principal contemporary geopolitical world centers will analyze compromise options for the European missile defence shield.

The Luxembourg Forum President Viatcheslav Kantor has emphasized that the world became much tenser and less secure than a year before. “We have come closer to the security threshold, and we see that this problem is trivialized,” he said. “The initiative should come from the major players, the U.S. and Russia. Unfortunately, no understanding has been reached on these issues. On the opposite, mutual understanding and trust between the U.S. and Russia did not improve over the past year. We had great hopes for the execution and acceptance of the new START Treaty, however, due to the European missile defence shield issues, the mutual confidence is lower than it was a year ago.”

As the outcome, the Berlin conference of the Luxembourg Forum is expected to approve a final document containing expert conclusions and recommendations, which will traditionally be circulated to the heads of world powers, the UN Security Council, the CIS leadership, the Collective Security Treaty Organization, NATO, the IAEA and other international agencies.

The Luxembourg Forum’s plans for 2012 include completing an in-depth analysis of existing problems and designing new proposals to overcome deadlock in cooperation on the European missile defence shield, resuming negotiations between Russia and the U.S. on further strategic arms reduction, and starting talks on limitation of non-strategic nuclear weapons. The Forum intends to thoroughly analyze ways to prevent nuclear terrorism.

Since its inception, the Luxembourg Forum has held a number of top-tier events and conferences in Washington, Moscow, Luxembourg, Rome, Vienna, Geneva and Stockholm and achieved important results. The Forum has established close relations and achieved understanding with global political leaders and institutions. Over the five years of its operation, the Forum has become one of the most influential international public organizations dealing with nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament. Nearly all the Forum’s experts are world-renowned researchers and experts.

***

The International Luxembourg Forum on Preventing Nuclear Catastrophe was established pursuant to a decision of the International Conference on Preventing Nuclear Catastrophe, held in Luxembourg on May 24-25, 2007.The Forum is one of the largest non-governmental organizations uniting leading world-renowned experts on non-proliferation of nuclear arms, arms reduction and limitation.The Forum is headed by its President, Viatcheslav Kantor, PhD. The principal guiding bodies of the Forum are the International Advisory Council and the Supervisory Council.

The Forum’s priorities are:

· - To facilitate the process of arms limitation and reduction and counteract growing threats to the nuclear non-proliferation regime and erosion of the Non-Proliferation Treaty , including the escalating danger of nuclear terrorism and attempts by certain states to gain access to nuclear materials and technologies

· - To promote international peace and security through new approaches and provide decision-makers with practical solutions to critical issues of non-proliferation and arms control