FOR MEDIA 26 SEPTEMBER 1989
I warmly welcome President Bush's proposals for
eliminating chemical weapons stockpiles made in his
speech to the United Nations General Assembly and which
he detailed in a personal letter to me yesterday.
President Bush's announcements are the latest of three
significant advances towards banning chemical weapons,
which have taken place over the last week.
Australia has just hosted the Government Industry
Conference Against Chemical Weapons a unique event
in which 65 Governments reaffirmed their commitment to a
comprehensive Chemical Weapons Convention at the
earliest date and the world's chemical industry declared
for the first time its collective support for a
Convention. I congratulate Senator Evans and his Departmental
officials for all their hard work, energy and commitment
which ensured the success of the Conference.
At their meeting on 22-23 September in Wyoming,
Secretary of State Baker and Foreign Minister
Shevardnadze signed a memorandum of understanding
regarding a bilateral verificatibn experiment and data
exchange with the aim of facilitating the process of
negotiation, signature and ratification of the Global
Convention. President Bush's proposals build on the progress
achieved in the Geneva negotiations, the Canberra
Government Industry Conference, and the bilateral
discussions between the United States and the Soviet
Union, the only two countries which admit to possessing
chemical weapons.-
There are still challenges to meet as we advance to our
common goal of a worldwide ban on these barbarous and
indiscriminate weapons. I believe that the events of
the last week are a quantum leap forward. I am more
hopeful than ever that the remaining substantive issues
for negotiation can be completed within the coming year.
2020
The announcement that President Bush and Chairman
Gorbachev will hold a summit meeting in the United
States in the northern Spring/ Summer is also to be
warmly welcomed. I am delighted at the considerable
Srange of issues, including indications of further cuts
in strategic weapons, on which the USA and USSR were
able to make progress in their Wyoming talks.
I fully agree with President Bush, however, that the
problem of chemical weapons is a global one, which can
only be solved with the active support of many nations.
We must all work together. Australia will continue to
work tirelessly until the global tonvention against
chemical weapons is a reality and chemical weapons are
banned by all countries for all time. 2021