U.S. State Department Geographic Bureaus: Latin America Bureau

U.S. Department of State
96/02/29 Statement: US-Brazil Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Energy Agrmt.
Office of the Spokesman

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Office of the Spokesman

(Buenos Aires, Argentina)
____________________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release February 29 1996

STATEMENT BY NICHOLAS BURNS, SPOKESMAN

U. S.-ARGENTINE
PEACEFUL NUCLEAR ENERGY COOPERATION AGREEMENT

Secretary of State Warren Christopher and Argentine Foreign Minister Guido Di Tella signed an agreement providing a framework for cooperation on peaceful nuclear energy on February 29, 1996, at a ceremony at the San Martin Palace in Buenos Aires.

The new agreement updates an earlier agreement that entered into force in July 1969. Cooperation under that arrangement was suspended in the late 1970s because Argentina did not apply International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards. In 1994, after a breakthrough arrangement with Brazil, Argentina implemented full-scope safeguards.

Since 1989, Argentina has become a major international advocate of nonproliferation. In coordination with Brazil and Chile, Argentina put into effect the Treaty of Tlatelolco (establishing a nuclear-free zone in Latin America) in January 1994. It joined the Nuclear Suppliers Group in April 1994, and the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty in February 1995.

The new agreement provides a comprehensive framework for peaceful nuclear cooperation based on a strong mutual commitment to nuclear nonproliferation. It has an initial term of thirty years. It does not permit transfers of sensitive nuclear technology, and provides for U.S. consent rights to retransfers, enrichment and reprocessing as required by U.S. law. We expect a number of subsidiary agreements on specific cooperative endeavors between the Department of Energy and its Argentine counterparts to follow signature of the framework agreement.

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