Stalemate is broken in nuclear talks

[Forkboy]

VIENNA - The United Nations Conference on Disarmament, the 65-nation group established to write arms-control treaties, broke a 12-year impasse yesterday and will begin talks on a new nuclear treaty and weapons in space.

The Geneva-based organization aims to draft a treaty intended to prevent all countries, including the current nuclear-armed nations, from making atomic-weapons material, the UN said in an e-mailed statement. The group also will seek an agreement to prevent an arms race in space.

"This had been a long and arduous period," John Duncan, the United Kingdom representative to the conference, said in the statement. "This achievement had been a collective effort of all to reach out and find the element of a shared vision."

The conference, which drafted existing treaties governing nuclear- and chemical-weapons proliferation, including the international nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, had been stuck since 1997 because members couldn't agree on priorities. President Obama made the proposed treaty halting the production of nuclear-weapons material a goal of his administration.

http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2009/05/30/stalemate_is_broken_in_nuclear_talks/

[bananas]

1. Yay! nt