§ Mr. Llew SmithTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list the actions taken by Her Majesty's Government to support efforts to initiate negotiations on a fissile material cut-off treaty as cited in paragraph 146 of the statement on the Defence estimates, column 3223; and if he will make a statement on the progress achieved to date in these negotiations. [29979]
§ Mr. David DavisWe supported the mandate agreed at the conference on disarmament in Geneva in March 1995 for an ad hoc committee to work on a fissile material cut-off treaty banning the future production of fissile material for nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices. We regret that it has not yet proved possible to start work on this issue. We continue to urge all members of the CD to agree to the early establishment of an ad hoc committee to begin negotiations.