Permanent Mission of India
New York
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High-Level Plenary Meeting to Commemorate and Promote the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons

Statement by Shri Sibi George, Secretary (West)
26 September, 2025

Mr. President,

India welcomes the convening of the High-Level Plenary meeting to commemorate the International Day for Total Elimination of nuclear weapons. We are cognizant of the fact that any use of nuclear weapons will have catastrophic consequences for humanity.

India is firmly committed to universal, non-discriminatory and verifiable nuclear disarmament. We believe that this goal can be achieved through a step-by-step process underwritten by a universal commitment and an agreed global and non-discriminatory multilateral framework.

India’s Working Paper, presented to the Conference on Disarmament in 2007, CD/1816 precisely encapsulates this approach, and calls for the negotiation of a Comprehensive Nuclear Weapons Convention in the CD.

Without prejudice to the priority that we attach to disarmament, India calls for the immediate commencement of negotiations in the CD on a Fissile Material Cutoff Treaty (FMCT) on the basis of CD/1299 and the mandate contained therein, which remains the most suitable basis for negotiations.

Mr. President,

India is a responsible nuclear weapon State and is committed to maintain credible minimum deterrence with the posture of "no-first use” and "non-use against non-nuclear weapon States”.

With a view to promoting expertise in disarmament, and our commitment to advance disarmament education, India hosts a fully funded three-week Annual Disarmament and International Security Fellowship Programme covering an entire range of key disarmament and international security issues.

India’s annual resolution at the UNGA, tabled since 1982, on a "Convention on the Prohibition of the use of Nuclear Weapons”, requests the CD to commence negotiations on an international convention prohibiting the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons under any circumstances. Through another annual GA resolution on “Reducing Nuclear Danger”, India has drawn global attention to the hair-trigger alert of nuclear weapons carrying unacceptable risks of unintentional or accidental use, and recognizes the need for steps to reduce these risks, including through de-alerting and de-targeting of nuclear weapons.

Mr. President,

Progress towards the goal of nuclear disarmament will require a climate of mutual confidence and consensus building to conclude universal non-discriminatory and verifiable prohibitions on nuclear weapons leading to their complete elimination. With this aim, India stands ready to work with all countries towards the objective of a world free of nuclear weapons.

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