THE NUCLEAR SUPPLIERS GROUP ADMITS MEXICO AS AN OBSERVER STATE

• Mexico joined the Nuclear Suppliers Group today as an Observer State at the group’s plenary meeting in Seattle, Washington.

Mexico was admitted today as an Observer State to the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) at its annual plenary meeting, held this year in Seattle, Washington. The NSG is one of the main export control regimes of nuclear goods and technology used for peaceful purposes. 

Mexico's membership in the NSG, which is comprised of 46 countries from every region on the planet, is consistent with its traditional support of global nonproliferation and disarmament in the interests of international peace and security, and with the Treaty of Tlatelolco, whose Article 17 emphasizes the development of the nuclear industry for peaceful purposes. 

This was the first time that a Mexican delegation attended an NSG meeting. The delegation was headed by Ambassador Mabel Gómez Oliver and comprised of Dr. Cesar Hernandez Ochoa, Director General of Foreign Trade of the Ministry of Economy; Juan Eibenschutz Hartman, Director General of the National Commission of Nuclear Safety and Safeguards; Luz Aurora Ortiz Salgado, Director General for the Distribution and Supply of Nuclear Power and Resources of the Ministry of Energy; and Minister Juan Sandoval Mendiolea, Chief of Staff to the Undersecretary for Multilateral Affairs and Human Rights of the Foreign Ministry.

Mexico seeks to make a substantive contribution to strengthening the international export control regimes, since they help ensure compliance with the obligations adopted by countries under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT), the Statute of the International Atomic Energy Agency and other international non-proliferation and disarmament instruments, while allowing for the controlled development of cutting-edge technology in sectors that use nuclear technology to generate electricity and for nuclear medicine, among other uses. 

Mexico reiterated to the NSG its commitment to the nonproliferation of weapons of mass destruction and stressed its desire to effectively control the goods and technology included on the NSG lists, which will improve the access of Mexican industries to high-level technology that to date has not been available in Mexico. Mexico became a full member of the Wassenaar Arrangement on dual-use goods and technologies in January. 

In 2011, Mexico exported over a billion dollars of dual-use goods that are regulated by the NSG control lists, including nuclear-quality steel and graphite, nuclear particle accelerators for medical and industrial uses; steam generators, microprocessors, capacitors, aluminum alloys, highly-specialized drilling equipment, and others.

The NSG is an informal, non-legally binding group created in 1974, which seeks to contribute to the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons through the implementation of guidelines for nuclear exports and nuclear-related exports.

Currently, the following countries are members of the NSG: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom and the USA.