Andreas PersboAcronym Blog & UKNI Presentation

When talking to Jeffrey earlier today, I said that I was planning to write a post or two from the Review Conference. However, as Rebecca Johnson and Carol Naughton are already covering the meeting excellently at their Acronym Institute Blog, I thought it’s probably better to direct traffic their way instead of my repeating the same story.

What I’ll do instead is to write up some seventh-inning thoughts on what I think this conference will mean for us verification wonks. I’ll do that on Saturday, after I’ve had the time to talk to some of the intergovernmental folks I’ve seen wandering around in the hallways.

Meanwhile, I’ll take this opportunity to do some shameless self-promotion. I’m holding an event together with the Norwegians and the “Blue and Yellow Brits” on Thursday. All are invited to hear us out.

The United Kingdom and Norway Initiative (UKNI): Research into the Verification of Nuclear Warhead Dismantlement

On Thursday May 13, Norway and the UK are presenting work on their joint initiative to the 2010 NPT Review Conference. The non-governmental organisation VERTIC is providing independent observations.

The UKNI is a unique collaboration between a Nuclear Weapon State (UK) and a Non-Nuclear Weapon State (Norway). It is the first joint work of this nature in this field of research. Confidence building and transparency measures, including verification, will be critical to moving towards a world free from nuclear weapons. This poses significant technical, financial and policy challenges. The project was designed to develop new technologies, methods and procedures for the verification of future dismantlement.

What: Presentation of the NPT Working Paper ‘The United Kingdom-Norway Initiative: Research into the Verification of Nuclear Warhead Dismantlement’

When: Thursday May 13 at 13:15-14:45

Where: Conference Room 2 (TNLB), United Nations headquarters, New York

With introductory remarks from Ambassador Steffen Kongstad, Director-General of the Department for Security Policy at the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Head of the Norwegian NPT delegation and Ambassador John Duncan, Permanent Representative to the Conference of Disarmament in Geneva and Head of the UK NPT delegation.

VERTIC will also deliver a presentation with an initial analysis of the project from an independent perspective.

Media Contact: Emma Kwesiga Lydersen, Press Counsellor at Permanent Mission of Norway to the UN in New York, ekly [at] mfa.no / +1 646 642 9910 (cell) / +1 212 310 1527 (landline)

Emma is really cool. Give her a call if you require more information. I’ll return on Friday with some musings on the IAEA and the CTBTO.

Update 07:10 EST

You can also download the factsheet here and the UK-Norway Working Paper here