- The international conference on nuclear disarmament. It took place at the Grand Hotel in Oslo on 26-27 February 2008.
"We must work to bring the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty into force - in the United States and in other key states. [This and other measures] will help reverse the spread of nuclear weapons, … reduce the risk of nuclear use, … inspire greater cooperation, and… help build a foundation of cooperation and trust - among the United States, Russia and China, and all nuclear weapons states."
With these words, former US Senator Sam Nunn, addressed the over 100 participants in an international conference on nuclear disarmament in Oslo on 26-27 February 2008.
- Norway's Foreign Minister, Jonas Gahr Støre, the host of the conference.
The conference entitled "Achieving the vision of a world free of nuclear weapons" thrusts the so-called Reykjavik Revisited initiative into an international setting for the first time. "Reykjavik Revisited" refers to the summit between Presidents Ronald Reagan and Michael Gorbachev in 1986. At the summit the two leaders put forward the vision of eliminating nuclear weapons altogether.
Twenty years later, this vision has become a concrete initiative for achieving a world free of nuclear weapons. This initiative is led by former US foreign and defense policy leaders George Shultz, William Perry, Henry Kissinger and Sam Nunn, and has been endorsed by about 40 influential policy makers in the United States. In January 2007, the group published its second article in the Wall Street Journal, in which they, among other measures, supported the entry into force of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT).
- Former US Senator Sam Nunn addressed the over 100 participants in Oslo.
The significance of ending all nuclear testing and bringing the CTBT into force was emphasized in many statements at the conference.
"The path ahead is clear: We must consolidate the ban on nuclear testing, securing the entry into force of the CTBT and maintaining support for the CTBTO," the host of the conference, Norway's Foreign Minister, Jonas Gahr Støre said in his welcoming remarks.
"The CTBT - signed more than a decade ago and seen by some as the longest sought, hardest fought arms control agreement - must be brought into force as soon as possible," IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei said in his keynote speech.
- Sidney Drell, professor emeritus of theoretical physics at Stanford University and one of the architects of "Reykjavik Revisited".
"The most urgent step now is to bring the CTBT into force, Hans Blix, chairman of the Weapons of Mass Destruction Commission, said. "The Treaty is there, it has a strong verification regime, and its entry into force would benefit international and regional security and help strengthening the non-proliferation regime."
The United States and Russia should take the lead and "adopt a process for bringing the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty into effect, which would strengthen the [Non-Proliferation Treaty] and aid international monitoring of nuclear activities," said Sidney Drell, professor emeritus of theoretical physics at Stanford University and one of the architects of "Reykjavik Revisited".
