§ Mr. LawsTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent assessment he has made of whether(a) North Korea, (b) Iran and (c) Cuba possess weapons of mass destruction; and if he will make a statement. [105122]
§ Mr. Mike O'BrienWe have for some time had serious concerns about the weapons of mass destruction (WMD) programmes of a number of countries. We are744W particularly concerned by recent statements and actions by North Korea whom we believe to have ambitions to manufacture nuclear weapons.
We have also noted information which has recently become available on the nature and scale of Iran's nuclear programme. It is a matter of concern that Iran did not make the information available to the International Atomic Energy Agency earlier. We note that the IAEA Director-General has said that some nuclear safeguards issues remain to be clarified.
745WWe have no clear evidence that Cuba is engaged in a programme to develop WMD, although we do have some concerns about the scale of their pharmaceutical production capacity. Cuba has recently signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, a move which we have publicly welcomed.
We consistently call upon all states that have not yet done so to sign, ratify and abide by the obligations of all the International Treaties and Conventions covering the development of weapons of mass destruction and the means for their delivery.