By Xinhua,
New Delhi : Indian Prime Minister Manomohan Singh urged all countries to work for universal nuclear disarmament in a time bound manner while inaugurating a global conference here Monday.
“India is ready to add its own weight and voice to the global debate on nuclear disarmament with a view to crafting a consensus on disarmament and non-proliferation,” he said, according to the Indo-Asian News Service.
“We need a collective approach anchored in a universal partnership that is supported by non-governmental communities and public opinion,” he added.
The conference, organized by the Indian Council of World Affairs (ICWA) and the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a non-government think tank, is being attended by disarmament experts and former diplomats from India, the United States, Russia and other countries.
Referring to the relevance of former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s peace plan presented to the U.N. general assembly in 1988, Singh stressed the need for “global, universal and non-discriminatory” nuclear disarmament.
“Rajiv Gandhi believed that disarmament, in particular nuclear disarmament, was essential to usher in a safe and non-violent world. At the heart of the action plan was a commitment to eliminate all nuclear weapons in three stages by 2010,” the Prime Minister said.