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Raje stresses India's commitment towards nuclear weapons-free world

India has expressed its readiness to co-operate with the international community in any collective effort for the establishment of a nuclear weapons-free world in the next millennium.

In a letter to the foreign ministers of the eight-nation initiative on nuclear disarmament, Minister of State for External Affairs Vasundhara Raje said India believed that the only way to enhance global security was through elimination of nuclear weapons.

The eight nations are: Brazil, Egypt, Ireland, Mexico, New Zealand, Slovenia, South Africa and Sweden. The foreign ministers of these countries had met on June 9 and asked India and Pakistan to reverse their nuclear weapons development programme and adhere to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

In her letter of June 16, Raje emphasised that partial measures for nuclear proliferation would not work. ''The road map is clear. We deal with nuclear weapons as we have dealt with other weapons of mass destruction like chemical weapons and biological weapons by negotiating multilateral treaties which are comprehensive, universal and non-discriminatory,'' she added.

The minister also mentioned that it was a timely reminder that in spite of nearly 100 UN General Assembly resolutions, reflecting the will of the international community, decisive steps had still not been taken in this direction.

Raje said India might have differences with these nations in its approach towards nuclear disarmament but shared the same objective of a nuclear weapons-free world.

UNI

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