US Special Envoy For Nuclear Nonproliferation To Visit Oslo, Riga Next Week - State Dept.

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 31st August, 2019) US Special Representative Jeffrey Eberhardt will visit Norway, Sweden and Latvia next week to reaffirm the United States' commitments to strengthen the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, the Department of State said in a release on Friday.

"Special Representative of the President for Nuclear Nonproliferation, Ambassador Jeffrey L. Eberhardt, will travel to Oslo, Stockholm, and Riga September 2-6, 2019 to reaffirm the United States' commitments to strengthen the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), including nuclear nonproliferation, peaceful uses of nuclear energy and nuclear disarmament efforts," the release said.

In Oslo, Eberhardt will meet with his counterparts to exchange ideas on nuclear disarmament and nonproliferation, as well as participate in a roundtable on these issues at the Oslo Nuclear Project, the release said.

During his visit to Stocholm, Eberhardt will meet with his counterparts at the Foreign Affairs Ministry and join a discussion at the Swedish Institute of International Affairs on the enduring relevance of the NPT and on US efforts to strengthen the accord, the release said.

While in Riga, Eberhardt will take part in the NATO Nuclear Policy Symposium, where he will "highlight the United States' objectives for the 2020 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference, to seek creative ways to achieve a positive outcome that recognizes and reaffirms the importance of the NPT," the release said.

The NPT was signed on July 1, 1968 and went into effect in March 1970. There are 190 parties to the accord, but nuclear-armed India, Israel, North Korea, Pakistan and South Sudan are not signatories.