Tag: Foreign Office

Thank you, Mr Chair. The destruction of the Kakhovka dam is an abhorrent act, and the latest tragic consequence of Russia’s brutal and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. As my Foreign Secretary has said this morning: “Intentionally attacking exclusively civilian infrastructure is a war crime”. Those responsible for such acts must always be held accountable. Our thoughts are with the people of Ukraine, especially those in the area, whose lives, homes, and livelihoods are threatened.

This act has put thousands of civilians in danger and is causing severe environmental damage to the surrounding area. Flooding threatens to contaminate water supplies and vital natural habitats. Vast swathes of agricultural land and electricity supplies are also at risk. This in turn threatens food production and the international food trade. The UK stands ready to support Ukraine and all those affected by this catastrophe.

We will continue to follow developments closely. This includes reports that Russian forces shelled Kherson while evacuation efforts were ongoing. If this is indeed the case, it is despicable. But let me be clear: this destruction is the consequence of Russia’s unwarranted, unprovoked invasion. I will repeat what we have said throughout: Russia must immediately withdraw its troops from Ukraine’s sovereign territory and end its war of aggression.

Thank you, Mr Chair.

Chair,

On behalf of France, the United Kingdom and Germany, I thank Director General Grossi for his latest report GOV/2023/24, and Deputy Director General Aparo for his technical briefing.

The E3 express their gratitude to the Agency for its objective reporting on Iran’s nuclear programme and encourage the Director General to keep the Board informed of all activities, and developments requiring clarification by Iran. We would like to express our appreciation for the Agency’s professional and impartial work, and in particular, inspections of Iran’s facilities.

We see no substantial change in Iran’s behaviour. Over the reporting period, Iran has unabatedly continued escalating its nuclear programme beyond civilian justification, and has displayed little will to implement the transparency commitments laid out in the Joint Statement agreed last March.

On the state of the nuclear programme, the Director General’s report shows Iran continues down its path of significant nuclear escalation:

• First: Iran has further expanded its stockpile of 5%, 20% and 60% enriched uranium. Iran’s total enriched uranium stockpile is now more than 21 times the JCPoA limit. Iran’s stockpile of 60% enriched uranium has increased by almost one third, to 114.1 kg in the form of UF6, and is now almost three IAEA significant quantities. This is almost three times the amount of nuclear material from which the possibility of manufacturing a nuclear explosive device cannot be excluded. All of us on this Board must see this as a major expansion of Iran’s nuclear programme, raising serious questions about the intent of its activities.
• Second: Iran has continued to install additional advanced centrifuge cascades, permanently improving its enrichment capabilities and hollowing out the value of the JCPoA.
• Third: Given the seriousness of activities considered to be key steps for the development of a nuclear weapon, we also recall the significant work on uranium metal previously reported, and associated critical irreversible knowledge gains. We continue to urge Iran not to commence any further work related to the production of uranium metal, which also reduces the non-proliferation value of the JCPoA.

The detection last January of uranium particles enriched to 83.7% U-235 highlights the seriousness of Iran’s continuing escalation. This enrichment was grossly inconsistent with the level declared by Iran and constituted an unprecedented and extremely grave development, for which there is no credible civilian justification. While the Director General reports that the information provided was ‘not inconsistent’ with Iran’s explanations, the significance of the detection of undeclared changes made to the cascade configuration at Fordow should be fully understood:

• First, this step, along with Iran’s wider nuclear programme, brought Iran dangerously close to actual weapons-related activities.
• Second, Iran is still using a configuration which can enable the production of high enriched material at levels considerably over 60%, showing Iran’s disregard for the gravity of this development.

Chair,

The circumstances of its discovery through an unannounced inspection, as well as the large-scale accumulation of highly enriched uranium, continue to ring alarm bells. These actions show Iran has built capabilities suitable for enrichment for nuclear weapons purposes. It is the responsibility of the international community, and particularly of this Board, to call upon Iran not to engage in enrichment activities that raise serious questions about its intent, particularly given Iran’s historical track-record.

Such overall escalation comes at a point when the Agency has been without access to data on centrifuge and component manufacturing for more than two years. As reiterated in the report, Iran’s decision to stop cooperating with the monitoring and verification activities agreed in the JCPoA means the Agency would no longer be able to re-establish continuity of knowledge even in the event of a full JCPoA resumption. Iran’s decision to remove Agency surveillance and monitoring equipment has had detrimental implications for the Agency’s ability to provide assurance of the peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear programme. We urge Iran to re-install all equipment in all the locations deemed necessary by the IAEA, and to provide all the footage from the cameras, including data recorded from February 2021 to June 2022. This should be done without delay. We also recall that, under its Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement, Iran is legally obliged to implement Modified Code 3.1. and cannot change its application or withdraw from it unilaterally.

Regarding the Joint Statement agreed between the AEOI and the IAEA last March we regret that implementation remains very limited and below expectations at this point. While we note that the Agency speaks of “some progress”, it also clearly states that “the process needs to be sustained and uninterrupted in order that all of the commitments contained therein are fulfilled without further delay”. It is of utmost importance that Iran immediately implements the Joint Statement entirely. Chair, The full range of findings outlined by the Director General’s report are alarming: Iran is, undoubtedly and unabatedly, on a path of significant nuclear escalation. Its activities are a clear threat to regional and global security.

We deeply regret that Iran did not accept the fair and balanced deal that the JCPoA Coordinator tabled almost a year ago, and instead chose to accelerate its programme. Iran bears full responsibility for this situation. We urge Iran to immediately stop and reverse its nuclear escalation, and allow for complete transparency with the IAEA by re-applying the Additional Protocol.

Chair,

We will continue consultations, alongside international partners, on how best to address Iran’s unabated and dangerous nuclear escalation. We call upon Iran to de-escalate the situation and we expect swift and concrete further steps to implement the Joint Statement commitments on IAEA verification and monitoring. We remain committed to taking every diplomatic step to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons. We ask the Director General to keep the Board of Governors informed ahead of the September Board, and provide earlier updates as necessary, and would ask for this report to be made public.

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you to our briefers. President, I will make four points today on the challenges facing Central Africa.

Thank you, President, and let me also thank SRSG Abarry, Commission of the Economic Community of Central African States President Verissimo and Ms Tamoifo for their important briefings.

President, I will make five points today on the challenges facing Central Africa.

First, as the Secretary-General set out in his latest report, the subregion is facing important electoral and transitional milestones. Inclusive, peaceful and credible political processes are critical for building and sustaining peace in the sub-region. We encourage member states to facilitate inclusive electoral and transitional processes and to draw on UNOCA support.

Second, the transition in Chad is one such potential milestone, but the Chadian Transitional Authorities must honour conditions set out in the May 2023 African Union Peace and Security Council communiqué to see this milestone achieved. The response to last October’s demonstrations was concerning. The United Kingdom encourages the Transitional Authorities to work with UNOCA and ECCAS to ensure accountability and the release of protestors detained without due legal process.

We pay tribute to Chad’s generosity in helping host tens of thousands of refugees fleeing the crisis in Sudan. The United Kingdom is also providing over $3 million in humanitarian assistance to help support vulnerable refugees from Sudan in Chad. We encourage the Chadian Transitional Authorities to use their influence with Sudan’s generals to encourage adherence to the ceasefire, the facilitation of humanitarian access and progress towards a peaceful resolution to this crisis.

Third, the United Kingdom remains concerned about the situation in Cameroon, especially the humanitarian impact of the conflict in the North West and South West regions. We agree with the Secretary-General that inclusive dialogue is critical to resolve the crisis. The UK continues to call on all parties to engage and to enable safe access to schools and humanitarian assistance.

Fourth, as highlighted by my colleague the Permanent Representative of Gabon, climate insecurity is a major threat to this region. The United Kingdom welcomes UNOCA’s implementation of climate security projects in Central Africa. It is essential that UNOCA’s work on climate security in the region continues and that the Council supports efforts to mitigate the challenges posed by climate change.

Finally, President, we cannot ignore the destabilising role the Wagner Group continues to play in this region. They are a driver of conflict and resource competition, motivated by their exploitation of natural resources and frequently associated with human rights atrocities. They are a part of the problem, not the solution.

Thank you, President.

1. Chair, may I warmly welcome the EU’s delegation, led by Director-General for Trade Sabine Weyand, to their 15th Trade Policy Review and thank the Secretariat for their report and our discussant, Ambassador Pimchanok Pitfield, for her ever-insightful comments.
2. Chair, let me acknowledge the uniqueness of this moment. It won’t escape the notice of my ever-observant colleagues that for the first time, the UK is participating in this Trade Policy Review not as a Member State of the EU, but as an independent WTO Member. And although we may no longer sit next to each other in this chamber, we remain close allies not just at the WTO, but indeed on the wider global stage, fostering a relationship built on shared values, and cooperation across our shared interests.
3. Despite the change in our relationship, and some of the challenges we have worked on together in that process, we are fully committed to maintaining a strong partnership that benefits both our citizens and the global community.
4. The trade relationship between the EU and UK is one of the world’s great economic partnerships. Total trade between the UK and the EU was worth more than £730 billion last year. Member States of the EU are still the largest overseas investors in the British economy, and Britain is one of the biggest investors in Member States of the EU, with thousands of British and continental European companies and millions of jobs relying on close ties between our markets.
5. Challenges to trade exist of course, but together we can – and must – overcome them. And we are making progress. Our Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) is the EU’s biggest and broadest FTA to date, and a cornerstone of our bilateral relationship. And the recently agreed Windsor Framework marks a turning point in how the UK and the EU will work together collaboratively to fully exploit the potential of this agreement and maximise the relationship between us.
6. This close partnership is what allows us to tackle shared priorities including trade, energy, security, migration, and climate. And it has of course underpinned our consistent collaboration against President Putin’s brutal invasion of Ukraine. Together, we sanctioned the Russian economy by delivering bans on goods and services trade to restrict the funding of the Russian war machine. We welcome our close co-ordination of sanctions packages with the EU, including through the new Enforcement Coordination Mechanism. As the DG said, we will stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes.
7. Chair, the EU’s leadership and influence within the WTO are instrumental to shaping the future of global trade. We are committed to working with our EU allies and partners to address the challenges we face and harness fresh opportunities for global growth.
8. And we have already seen the fruits of our close collaboration. We worked together throughout the pandemic and more recently the global food security crisis, promoting the widely supported Trade and Health Initiative and the Declaration on Food Insecurity at MC12, and in the WTO Committee on Market Access, which has created a rich resource for future policy makers addressing crises in the future. We appreciate the EU’s promotion of open trade principles in negotiations on Fisheries subsidies and e-Commerce and we welcome the EU’s recent proposal for WTO dialogues on state intervention in the economy. We must carry this spirit of collaboration into all our shared challenges, such as strengthening trade resilience through diversifying supply chains, for which both the WTO Director-General and the G7 have called.
9. However, as we set our sights on the future, we must not lose sight of the pressing need to reform this Organisation. We all know that this institution has faced significant challenges in recent years. Its ability to address emerging trade issues and disputes has, sadly, been called into question. To safeguard the benefits of free trade and ensure that it remains an enabler of global growth and prosperity, we must reinvigorate the WTO and adapt it to the realities of the third decade of the 21st century.
10. In this endeavour, we look to the EU as a key partner. EU leadership and influence within the WTO are instrumental in shaping the future of global trade. We encourage the EU to continue its efforts to promote transparency, inclusivity, and effectiveness within the Organisation, and its deep and valuable engagement on dispute settlement reform.
11. On this, World Environment Day, we welcome the EU’s ambition on climate and the emphasis placed on open trade through its Green Deal Industrial Plan. However, the global challenges we face cannot be resolved through unilateral action alone, and we must ensure that the green transition does not come through acting at each other’s expense or at the expense of our rules-based international system. The UK and EU have mutual trade obligations under the TCA and WTO. We must work together to avoid a subsidy race that could distort trade or negatively impact emerging sectors.
12. The UK shares the EU’s concerns about carbon leakage risks, which could undermine our joint efforts to reduce global emissions. The UK has strongly advocated and supported international solutions to carbon leakage risk. We have an ambitious Emissions Trading Scheme and Carbon Price Support mechanism which we expect the EU to take into account when implementing its own Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism.
13. Chair, the UK shares the EU’s ambition of identifying effective approaches to shortage management in future crises, however we have questions over the trade impacts of the EU’s Single Market Emergency Instrument (SMEI). The framework seems to be an overly inward-looking response to managing supply chains in a crisis, which risks trade with third countries at a time of potential global shortage. We submitted written questions about the SMEI, and we encourage the EU to pursue closer coordination with third countries as part of planning for future crises.
14. The UK recognises that the complexity and variety of semiconductors makes it impossible for any country to address the challenges of semiconductor supply chain resilience alone. We also submitted written questions to understand the trade implications of the EU’s approach. We want to work with the EU and other partners to pursue a coordinated, multilateral approach to this issue. Our vision is that a coordinated approach will work in tandem with industry to increase the resilience in key sectors.
15. We also encourage the EU to ensure its digital sovereignty agenda maintains fair market access for British businesses, in keeping with the UK’s high data protection standards and upholding our shared interests in digital trade and competitiveness.
16. Chair, as we navigate the uncharted waters of the green transition and the digital revolution, it is imperative that we reinforce our commitment to one another. We must collaborate to leverage our collective strengths, and work tirelessly together to reform the WTO. Together, we can protect and promote free and open trade, ensuring a prosperous future for all. In that critical endeavour, we look to the EU as a formidable and crucial ally.