Obama calls for nuclear weapons-free world
The US president said he would urge nations to sign treaties prohibiting nuclear testing
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Sunday, 05, Apr 2009 05:45
US president Barack Obama has promised "concrete steps" to achieve a world without nuclear weapons.
Speaking on an official visit to Prague in the Czech Republic, the US commander-in-chief said his administration would also urge nations to sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty which would put an end to nuclear testing.
"Today the cold war has disappeared but thousands of those weapons have not," President Obama said.
"More nations have acquired these weapons, tests continue... the knowledge to build these weapons has spread. If we say to ourselves that the spread of nuclear weapons is inevitable we are saying that the use of nuclear weapons is inevitable," he added.
The US head of state also expressed concerns about the danger of the theft and proliferation of nuclear weapons and how it could lead to the destruction of entire cities.
His comments come after the G20 summit of world leaders at which the US and Russia agreed to restart negotiations on the Start Treaties - a major Cold War era arms control treaty.
President Obama is on an eight-day visit to Europe. He is also set to meet European leaders during an EU-US meeting later today.