The Nordic Countries and the European Security and Defence Policy

260 THE BROADER DIMENSIONS OF SECURITYproliferation in a pragmatic manner. Despite occasional joint statements of amore ambitious kind with Sweden, Finland’s efforts in the arms control anddisarmament field have generally been directed at maximizing Europeanoutputs on a basis of consensus and cooperation with other EU partners.IV. Policy issues and inputs in recent yearsSince 2000, Nordic contributions in the context of disarmament and weapons ofmass destruction (WMD) non-proliferation have increased as a function of thegenerally increased international activism in this context. 20 Examples of recentglobal WMD-related endeavours in which the Nordic countries have taken astandpoint or an active role are the 2000 and 2005 NPT Review Conferences,the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI), 21 the G8 Global Partnership againstthe Spread of Weapons and Materials of Mass Destruction, 22 UN SecurityCouncil Resolution 1540 23 and the work of the New Agenda Coalition. 24Sweden was, in general, pleased with the outcome of the 2000 NPT ReviewConference. Anna Lindh, Swedish Minister for Foreign Affairs, in her statementat the conference drew attention to four areas of specific concern: 25reducing nuclear weapon arsenals, bringing into force the 1996 ComprehensiveNuclear Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), halting the development of new weaponsystems and reducing the risk of use of nuclear weapons in regional conflicts. In20 The policies of the Nordic countries in the 1990s are analysed in van Dassen, L., ‘Denmark’ and‘Sweden’, ed. H. Müller, Nuclear Export Controls in Europe (European Interuniversity Press: Brussels,1995), pp. 163–79, 181–206); van Dassen, L., ‘Denmark’, ‘Finland’, ‘Sweden’, ‘Norway’, ed. H. Müller,European Non-Proliferation Policy 1993–1995 (European Interuniversity Press: Brussels, 1996), pp. 243–53, 255–64, 265–78, 279–86; van Dassen, L., ‘Sweden’, ed. H. Müller, Europe and Nuclear Disarmament(European Interuniversity Press: Brussels, 1998), pp. 273–85; and Tamnes, R. and Forland, A., ‘Norway’,ed. H. Müller, Europe and Nuclear Disarmament (European Interuniversity Press: Brussels, 1998),pp. 287–305.21 The PSI is a voluntary grouping of states which cooperate to work against the illegal transfer ofWMD, notably by sea. See, e.g., Ahlström, C., ‘The Proliferation Security Initiative: international lawaspects of the Statement of Interdiction Principles’, SIPRI Yearbook 2005: Armaments, Disarmament andInternational Security (Oxford University Press: Oxford, 2005), pp. 741–65.22 The Global Partnership was initiated by the G8 nations at the 26–27 June 2002 summit meeting inKananaskis, Canada. It aims to prevent terrorists and those who harbour them from acquiring or developingnuclear, chemical, radiological or biological weapons, missiles or related equipment and technology.Its operational activities are heavily focused on destruction of surplus WMD materials, following theearlier US-led Cooperative Threat Reduction efforts in the former Soviet Union. See G8 KananaskisSummit, ‘Statement by G8 leaders: the G8 Global Partnership against the Spread of Weapons andMaterials of Mass Destruction’, June 2002, URL .23 UN Security Council Resolution 1540, 28 Apr. 2004, URL . The resolutioncreates a universal obligation for states to ‘criminalize’, prevent and punish the wrongful possessionor transfer of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons.24 The New Agenda Coalition was announced through a 1998 Joint Declaration by the foreign ministersof Brazil, Egypt, Ireland, Mexico, New Zealand, Slovenia, South Africa and Sweden to put more focus onnuclear disarmament. So far the First Committee of the UN General Assembly has adopted 5 resolutions(in 1998, 1999, 2000, 2002 and 2003) as a consequence of the New Agenda Coalition. On the NewAgenda Coalition see URL .25 Statement by Anna Lindh at the 2000 Review Conference of the States Parties to the Treaty on theNon-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, New York, 25 Apr. 2000.