UNITED NATIONS, April 2 (Xinhua) -- A roadmap is needed to get the world back on track with nuclear disarmament, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said here on Tuesday.
Addressing the UN Security Council session on Supporting the Non-Proliferation Treaty ahead of the 2020 Review Conference, Maas said: "For all the successes we have achieved in recent decades, we mustn't fool ourselves. The dismantling of the nuclear arsenals has come to a standstill."
"Worse still, the impending loss of the INF Treaty (Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty) raises the prospects of a reversal - actual nuclear rearmament," he said.
The German minister said that "we need a roadmap that will get us back on track with nuclear disarmament."
"We need to take tangible steps towards strategic risk reduction," he said, adding that more transparency on nuclear arsenals, crisis-proof channels of communication and revived dialogue among the five permanent members of the Security Council are needed to achieve the goal.
Maas said that the world must strengthen and develop the architecture of nuclear arms control.
"Whether in Europe, in Asia or anywhere else, we cannot afford any more shocks to our security and stability," he said.
