As the Heads of the Group of Seven (G7) gather in Hiroshima this week, one of only two sites to witness the catastrophic consequences of nuclear weapons use in conflict, over 200 leaders and experts from 50 states warn of the need to compartmentalise nuclear arms control from great power competition.
In a joint statement coordinated by the European Leadership Network and the Asia Pacific Leadership Network, some 26 former Foreign and Defence Ministers, six former Heads of State, over 30 former Ambassadors, multiple senior experts and scholars, and dozens of former senior officials, including former NATO Secretary-General, Assistant Secretaries-General, and Military Staff including Supreme Allied Commander for Europe (SACEUR) make a case for prioritising nuclear arms control.
In the darkest hours of the Cold War, the Soviet Union and United States were able and willing to discuss and agree measures to reduce the risk of nuclear war. This statement, endorsed by contacts in China, France, Russia, the UK and the US – all five recognised nuclear weapons states under the non-proliferation treaty – supports a return to this diplomacy, and protection of nuclear arms control as a global imperative.
Read the statement in Arabic, French, Japanese, Korean, Russian, or Spanish.
Group Statement: Protecting nuclear arms control is a global imperative
The world badly needs more nuclear arms control, not less.
As security policy leaders from 50 countries in Europe, North America, Asia and the Pacific, we call on the leaders of Russia, the United States, China, France, and the United Kingdom to ensure that nuclear arms control will not be made yet another victim of geopolitical competition.
These five leaders, in January last year, declared the reduction of strategic risks and the avoidance of war between nuclear-weapon states to be their foremost responsibilities and that a nuclear war can never be won and must never be fought. In November 2022, G20 leaders (including the United States, Russia, China, France, the United Kingdom, and India) collectively agreed that the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons is inadmissible.
Yet United States-Russia strategic stability talks are in limbo and the New START treaty, which has played an indispensable role in ensuring reciprocal security, is now in question. As the only existing nuclear arms control agreement between the United States and Russia, the world’s two largest nuclear-armed countries, the treaty’s collapse or expiration without a replacement would threaten a destabilising arms race.
Failure to agree on a new nuclear arms control framework to replace New START before it expires in February 2026 would also make it more difficult to bring China, France and the United Kingdom into multilateral arms control, as all three are not ready to consider limits on their nuclear arsenals until the United States and Russia bring down their nuclear stockpiles.
Worsening great power competition has made it even more difficult to advance nuclear arms control and risk reduction more generally – for example, within the framework of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Failure to uphold obligations under that treaty weakens our national and collective security and fails the test of statesmanship.
We have many different views on the rights and wrongs of current geopolitical competition. But we all agree that it is long past time to start prioritising nuclear arms control and taking unilateral, bilateral, and multilateral actions.
We call on the P5 nuclear weapons states to take steps to begin strategic stability talks at a variety of levels and to resume strategic risk reduction talks in the P5 format.
We call on Russia and the United States to compartmentalise nuclear arms control by
- Confirming that they will not exceed the New START limits on deployed nuclear forces, which thus far have not been violated.
- Agreeing to remove the obstacles to full implementation of their New START obligations and resuming the work of the Bilateral Consultative Commission.
- Committing to pursuing good faith negotiations on a successor framework for New START before its expiration in 2026.
We call on all signatory and other holdout states of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty to reaffirm their commitments not to test nuclear weapons and also to make concerted efforts towards entry into force of the Treaty.
Signed,
★ denotes members of the European Leadership Network
◊ denotes members of the Asia-Pacific Leadership Network
NPT nuclear-weapon states
China
- Prof. Chen Dongxiao, President, Shanghai Institute for International Studies (SIIS) ◊
- Dr Cui Liru, Senior Advisor to the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations ◊
- Dr Hu Yumin, Senior Research Fellow, Grandview Institute ◊
- Ren Libo, Chief Executive Officer, Grandview Institution
- Prof. Shen Dingli, Professor and former executive dean at Fudan University’s Institute of International Studies and former Director of the Center for American Studies ◊
- Dr Tong Zhao, visiting research scholar at the Program on Science and Global Security at Princeton University and Senior Fellow at the Nuclear Policy Program of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, China ◊
- Prof. Yu Tiejun, Professor of International relations, Peking University
France
- Benoit d’Aboville, former French PermRep at NATO and Associate researcher at FRS, Paris ★
- Dr Isabelle Facon, Deputy Director, Fondation pour la Recherche Stratégique, FRS
- Dr Juliette Faure, Research and Teaching Fellow, Université Paris II Panthéon-Assas (YGLN) ★
- Dr Marc Finaud, Associate Fellow, Geneva Centre for Security Policy (GCSP), Vice President, Initiatives pour le désarmement nucléaire (IDN)
- Benjamin Hautecouverture, Senior research fellow, Fondation pour la Recherche Stratégique, FRS
- Prof. Francois Heisbourg, Senior Advisor for Europe at the International Institute for Strategic Studies and Special Advisor at Fondation pour la Recherche Stratégique ★
- Pierre Lellouche, former Minister for Foreign Trade ★
- General (ret) d’armée aérienne Bernard Norlain, Président Initiatives pour le Désarmement Nucléaire-IDN ★
Russia
- Dr Alexey Arbatov, Head of the Center for International Security at the Primakov National Research Institute of World Economy and International Relations ★
- Prof. Vladimir Baranovsky, Academic Director of the Centre for situation analysis at the Primakov National Research Institute of World Economy and International Relations (IMEMO)
- Prof. Vladimir Dvorkin, Chairman of the Organising Committee of the International Luxembourg Forum on Preventing Nuclear Catastrophe, Major-General (ret)
- Dr Alexey Gromyko, Director, Institute of Europe of the Russian Academy of Sciences ★
- Nikita Gryazin, Younger Generation Leaders Network Coordinator (YGLN) ★
- Dr Evgenia Issraelyan, Leading Researcher at the Arbatov Institute for US and Canada Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences, (ISKRAN)
- Prof. Vladimir Lukin, Ambassador of the Russian Federation to the United States of America 1990-1994
- Dr Victor Mizin, Leading Researcher at the Primakov Institute of World Economy and International Relations (IMEMO) of the Russian Academy of Sciences
- Prof. Sergey Oznobishchev, Director of the Institute for Strategic Assessments
- Pavel Palazhchenko, Head of International and Media Relations, The Gorbachev Foundation
- Dr Sergey Rogov, Academic Director of the Institute for the US and Canadian Studies of the Russian Academy of Science (ISKRAN) ★
- Dr Pavel Sharikov, Institute of Europe, Russian Academy of Sciences (YGLN) ★
- Dr Nikolai Sokov, Senior Fellow, Vienna Center for Disarmament and Nonproliferation
- Dr Nadezhda Shvedova, Doctor of Political Sciences, Professor, Chief Researcher of the Institute for the United States and Canada Academician G.A. Arbatov of the Russian Academy of Sciences (ISKRAN)
- Prof. Andrei Zagorski, Head of the Department of Arms Control and Conflict Resolution od the Center for International Security at the Primakov National Research Institute of World Economy and International Relations (IMEMO)
- Natalia Zhurina, Nuclear Policy Expert (YGLN) ★
- Major General (Ret.) Pavel Zolotarev, former Head of the Department of the Defence Council of the Russian Federation
United Kingdom
- Rt. Hon Lord (James) Arbuthnot of Edrom, Conservative Peer in the House of Lords (UK) ★
- Sir Laurie Bristow, former Ambassador and Senior Associate Fellow ★
- Sebastian Brixey-Williams, Executive Director, BASIC (YGLN) ★
- Lord (Des) Browne of Ladyton, former Secretary of State for Defence and Chairman of the European Leadership Network ★
- Rt Hon Alistair Burt, former Minister of State for the Middle East and former Under Secretary of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office ★
- Lord (Menzies) Campbell, Member of the House of Lords and former leader of the Liberal Democrats ★
- Rt. Hon Charles Clarke, former Home Secretary ★
- Lord (David) Hannay of Chiswick, former Ambassador and Peer in the House of Lords ★
- Sir Chris Harper KBE FRAeS, former Director General, NATO International Military Staff
- Andrew Jones, Network Engagement and Digital Coordinator, European Leadership Network ★
- Lord (John) Kerr, Independent Member, House of Lords; former Ambassador and Secretary-General, EU Convention ★
- Esther Kersley, Commissioning Editor, European Leadership Network ★
- Jane Kinninmont, Impact and Policy Director, European Leadership Network ★
- Lord (Tom) King of Bridgwater, former Defence Secretary and Member of the House of Lords ★
- Simon Lunn, former Secretary General of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly. Senior Associate Fellow ★
- Tom McKane, former Director General Security Policy, Ministry of Defence ★
- Dr Ziya Meral, ELN Senior Associate Fellow ★
- Baroness (Pauline) Neville-Jones, former Security Minister ★
- Lord (David) Owen, UK Foreign Secretary 1977-79; EU peace negotiators for the former Yugoslavia 1992-95 ★
- Lord (Martin) Rees, former President of the Royal Society and Master of Trinity College, Cambridge★
- Sir Malcolm Rifkind, former Foreign Secretary and former Chairman of the Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament ★
- Sir John McLeod Scarlett, former Chief of the British Secret Intelligence Service
- Sir Graham Stacey, ELN Fellow and former COS NATO Allied Command Transformation, and DCOM NATO Joint Force Command Brunssum ★
- Sophie-Jade Taylor, Senior Network Development and Communications Manager, European Leadership Network (ELN) ★
- Sir Adam Thomson, Director, European Leadership Network (ELN) ★
- Lord (David) Triesman, Member of the House of Lords; former Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs ★
- Dr John R Walker, former Head of the Arms Control and Disarmament Research Unit, UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office, currently Senior Research Associate, European Leadership Network ★
- Lord (William) Wallace, Liberal Democrat Member of the House of Lords ★
- Admiral Alan West, former Head of the UK Navy, Security Minister and Cyber Security Minister ★
- Nicholas Williams, OBE, Vice-President CERIS-ULB Diplomatic School of Brussels and Senior Associate Fellow ★
United States
- James Acton, Co-director, Nuclear Policy Program, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
- General (ret.) John Rutherford Allen, USMC, Commander, NATO International Security Assistance Force and U.S. Forces Afghanistan, 2011-2013
- Steve Andreasen, National Security Consultant, Nuclear Threat Initiative; and former Director for Defense Policy and Arms Control, National Security Council
- Dr Emma Belcher, President, Ploughshares Fund
- General Philip Breedlove, USAF, EASLG, Supreme Allied Commander Europe #17
- Dr Pierce S. Corden, expert advisor, Holy See Mission to the UN, and former Division Chief, U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency
- Thomas Countryman, former United States Assistant Secretary of State for International Security and Non-proliferation
- Kelsey Davenport, Director for Nonproliferation Policy, Arms Control Association
- Major General (ret.) Gordon B. Davis Jr. Senior Fellow Center for European Policy Analysis, Former Deputy Assistant Secretary General for Defence Investment
- Samuel Driver, PhD Candidate, Slavic Studies, Brown University (YGLN) ★
- Prof Steve Fetter, University of Maryland
- Prof Nancy Gallagher, Research Professor of Public Policy, University of Maryland
- Dr Joseph Gerson, President, Campaign for Peace, Disarmament and Common Security
- Derek Johnson, Managing Partner, Global Zero
- Brigadier (ret) Feroz Hassan Khan, former Brigadier in the Pakistan Army and former Director of Arms Control and Disarmament Affairs, Strategic Plans Division, Joint Services Headquarters, Pakistan
- Daryl G. Kimball, Executive Director, Arms Control Association
- Prof Robert Levgold, Marshall D. Shulman Professor Emeritus, Columbia University
- Douglas Lute, former US Ambassador to NATO
- Sam Nunn, Co-Chair, Nuclear Threat Initiative; and former U.S. Senator
- Steven Pifer, former Ambassador and former Senior Director for Russia, Ukraine and Eurasia on the National Security Council; Affiliate, Center for International Security and Cooperation, Stanford University and nonresident senior fellow, Brookings Institution
- Prof William Potter, Sam Nunn and Richard Lugar Professor of Nonproliferation Studies, Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey
- Joan Rohlfing, President and COO, Nuclear Threat Initiative
- Brigadier General (ret.) Kevin Ryan, Senior Fellow, Harvard Kennedy School Belfer Center and former Defense Attache to Moscow ◊
- Sahil V. Shah, Senior Fellow and Program Manager, The Janne E. Nolan Center on Strategic Weapons, The Council on Strategic Risks ★
- Dr Elena K. Sokova, Executive Director, Vienna Center for Disarmament and Non-Proliferation
- Greg Thielmann, Former Director, Office of Strategic, Proliferation, and Military Affairs. Bureau of Intelligence and Research, Department of State
- Dr Harlan Ullman, Chairman of the Killowen Group and Senior Advisor, The Atlantic Council
- Alexander Vershbow, former NATO Deputy Secretary General; former Ambassador to Russia and South Korea; Distinguished Fellow, Atlantic Council
- Prof Jingdong Yuan, former Director of the East Asia Nonproliferation Program, Middlebury Institute of International Studies; Associate Professor, Discipline of Government and International Relations and Member of the China Studies Centre, the University of Sydney
Nationality (and alphabetically)
Albania
- Fatmir Mediu MP, former Defence Minister ★
Argentina
- Irma Arguello, Head to the Secretariat, LALN, Latin American and Caribbean Leadership Network; founder and chair, Non-proliferation for Global Security Foundation, (NPSGlobal)
Australia
- Hon Julie Bishop, Chancellor, The Australian National University, former Minister for Foreign Affairs
- John Carlson, former Director-General of the Australian Safeguards and Non-Proliferation Office ◊
- Prof Simon Chesterman, David Marshall Professor of Law & Vice Provost, National University of Singapore
- Hon Gareth Evans, former Minister for Foreign Affairs ◊
- Prof Trevor Findlay, Principal Fellow, School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Melbourne ◊
- John Hallam, Australian Coordinator PNND, People for Nuclear Disarmament UN Nuclear Weapons Campaigner
- Prof Marianne Hanson, Associate Professor, School of Political Science and International Studies ◊
- Dr Peter Hayes, Honorary Professor, Center for International Security Studies, Sydney University, Australia and Director, Nautilus Institute in Berkeley, California ◊
- Hon Robert Hill, former Minister for Defence Australia ◊
- Steve Killelea A. M, Founder and Executive Chairman, Institute for Economics and Peace
- Amb Michael Kirby, former Chair of the UN Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in North Korea ◊
- Amb John McCarthy, former Ambassador to Vietnam, Mexico, Thailand, the United States, Indonesia and Japan and High Commissioner to India ◊
- Hon Melissa Parke, former Minister for International Development ◊
- Hon Christopher Pyne, 54th Australian Defence Minister
- Amb Gary Quinlan AO, former Australian Ambassador to the United Nations and representative on the Security Council ◊
- Dr Lauren Richardson, Lecturer, Department of International Relations, The Australian National University
- Senator David Shoebridge, Australian Greens Senator for New South Wales
- Hon Senator Jordon Steele-John, Senator for Western Australia, Australian Greens
- Hon Natasha Stott Despoja AO, former Senator for South Australia, former Leader of the Australian Democrats, former Australian ambassador for women and girls, and former Chair of Our Watch ◊
- Amb John Tilemann, former Australian Deputy Permanent Representative to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) ◊
Belarus
- Dr Yauheni Preiherman, Director, Minsk Dialogue Council on International Relations, co-chair, YGLN ★
Belgium
- Dr Ilana Bet-El, Visiting Senior Fellow, KCL and former UN Senior Advisor on the Balkans ★
Bulgaria
- Dr Solomon Passy, Founding President, Atlantic Club of Bulgaria ★
Canada
- Dr Zachary Paikin, Researcher, Centre for European Policy Studies, Belgium (YGLN) ★
Croatia
- Prof. Ivo Slaus, Honorary President of the World Academy of Art and Science and Honorary Member of the Club of Rome ★
Czech Republic
- Jan Kavan, former Minister of Foreign Affairs and Deputy Prime Minister; former President of the UN General Assembly ★
Denmark
- Mogens Lykketoft, former Minister (Finance, Foreign); Speaker and President of the UN General Assembly ★
East Timor
- Dionísio Babo Soares, former Minister of Foreign Affairs ◊
Finland
- Dr Tarja Cronberg, former Member of Parliament, MEP, and SIPRI Distinguished Fellow ★
- Dr Raimo Väyrynen, former President of the Academy of Finland, Professor emeritus of the University of Helsinki ★
Germany
- Dr Stefanie Babst, former NATO Deputy Assistant Secretary and ELN Senior Associate Fellow ★
- Lt. General (ret) Heinrich Brauss, former NATO Assistant Secretary General for Defence Policy and Planning ★
- Dr Tobias Fella, Head, Challenges to Deep Cuts Project
- Dr Alexander Graef, Senior Researcher, Institute for Peace Research and Security Policy at the University of Hamburg (IFSH) (YGLN) ★
- Amb. Wolfgang Ischinger, President of the Foundation Council, Munich Security Conference Foundation; former Chairman of the Munich Security Conference ★
- Dr Angela Kane, former UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs ★
- Roderich Kiesewetter, CDU member of the Bundestag and former General Staff Officer of the Bundeswehr ★
- Dr Reinhard Krumm, Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, founder of the FES Regional Office for Security and Peace in Europe
- Rüdiger Lüdeking, former Ambassador and Deputy Commissioner of the Federal Government for Disarmament and Arms Control
- Dr Oliver Meier, Research and Policy Director, European Leadership Network ★
- Dr Marion Messmer, Senior Research Fellow, International Security Programme, Chatham House
- General (ret) Klaus Naumann, former Chief of Staff of the German armed forces; former Chairman of the NATO Military Committee ★
- Amb. Rolf Nikel, Vice President German Council on Foreign Relations and former Federal Government Commissioner for Arms Control and Disarmament
- Dr Hanna Notte, Senior Associate, Vienna Center for Disarmament and Non-Proliferation; Senior Associate, CSIS
- Prof. Götz Neuneck, Co-Chair, Federation of German Scientists
- Colonel GS (ret) Wolfgang Richter, former senior military advisor to German UN/CD and OSCE Representations
- Dr Norbert Röttgen, Member of the German Parliament (CDU) ★
- Nils Schmid, Member of the German Parliament and Foreign Policy Spokesman of the SPD Parliamentary Group ★
- Ulf Schneider, President and Founder, SCHNEIDER GROUP ★
- Brigadier General (ret) Reiner Schwalb, Vice President German Association for Security Policy and former DEU Defence Attachè to Moscow
- Elisabeth Suh, Research Fellow, German Council on Foreign Relations (YGLN) ★
- Maren Vieluf, Policy Consultant, International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (YGLN) ★
- Karsten D Voigt, Former German-American Coordinator and former President of the Parliamentary Assembly of NATO ★
- Brigadier General (ret.) Dr Klaus Wittmann, Lecturer in Contemporary History, Potsdam University★
Georgia
- Tedo Japaridze, former Minister of Foreign Affairs ★
Greece
- Spiros Lampridis, former Permanent Representative of Greece to NATO ★
Hungary
- Balazs Csuday, former Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations and International Organisations, Vienna ★
- Dr János Martonyi, former Minister of Foreign Affairs ★
India
- Commodore (ret.) C Uday Bhaskar, Director of the Society for Policy Studies (SPS), New Delhi ◊
- Amb. Neelam Deo, Co-founder Gateway House, Indian Council on Global Relations ◊
- Prof Happymon Jacob, Associate Professor of disarmament studies at the School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
- Lt Gen (ret.) Prakash Menon, former Military Adviser, National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS) and Director, Strategic Studies Programme, The Takshashila Institution
- Sylvia Mishra, Senior Associate at the Institute for Security and Technology (IST), Policy Advisor at the European Leadership Network (ELN), and Chair CBRN Working Group at Women of Color Advancing Peace & Security (WCAPS) ★
- Dr Rajeswari Pillai Rajagopalan, Director, Center for Security, Strategy & Technology (CSST), Observer Research Foundation ◊
- Dr Manpreet Sethi, Distinguished Fellow at the Centre for Air Power Studies, New Delhi ◊
- Air Chief Marshal (ret.) Shashi Tyagi, former chief of the Indian Air Force ◊
- Prof Arun Vishwanathan, Associate Professor, Central University of Gujarat, India ◊
- Dr Sundeep Waslekar, President, Strategic Foresight Group
Indonesia
- Dr Marty Natalegawa, former Minister for Foreign Affairs and Chair of the Asia Pacific Leadership Network (APLN) ◊
Ireland
- Mary Robinson, former President and Chair of the Elders
Italy
- Giancarlo Aragona, former Ambassador to Moscow and London ★
- Prof. Francesco Calogero, Emeritus Professor of Theoretical Physics, University of Rome La Sapienza ★
- Marta Dassù, Senior Advisor for European Affairs, The Aspen Institute ★
- Admiral (ret.) Giampaolo Di Paola, former Minister of Defence and former Chairman of NATO Military Committee ★
- Alice Saltini, Research Coordinator, European Leadership Network ★
- Prof. Carlo Schaerf, Professor of Physics (ret.), University of Rome TV ★
- Stefano Stefanini, Atlantic Council, European Leadership Network, ISPI, former PermRep to NATO and Diplomatic Advisor to the President of Italy ★
- Dr Nathalie Tocci, Director, Istituto Affari Internazionali ★
- Amb Carlo Trezza, Scientific Advisor of Istituto Affari Internazionali, former Ambassador for Disarmament and Nonproliferation, former chairman of MTCR, UN secretary general’s Advisory Board for Disarmament Affairs, the Conference on Disarmament ★
- Dr Lia Quartapelle, PD Member of the Chamber of Deputies ★
Japan
- Amb Nobuyasu Abe, former United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Disarmament Affairs ◊
- Doden Aiko, Special Affairs Commentator with NHK World TV ◊
- Prof Nobumasa Akiyama, Professor at the School of International and Public Policy and the Graduate School of Law at Hitotsubashi University ◊
- Prof Kiichi Fujiwara, Professor Emeritus, the University of Tokyo and Professor and Advisor to the President, Chiba University ◊
- Prof Yoko Hirose, Professor, Faculty of Policy Management, Keio University
- Mr Tadashi Inuzuka, Co-President of World Federalist Movement – Institute for Global Polity and the Executive Director of Coalition for 3+3 ◊
- Amb Yoriko Kawaguchi, former Minister of Foreign Affairs ◊
- Mr Akira Kawasaki, Executive Committee member of Peace Boat ◊
- Amb Yasuyoshi Komizo, former Chairperson of the Hiroshima Peace Culture Foundation, former Special Assistant to the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
- Prof Wakana Mukai, Associate professor, Faculty of International Relations, Asia University
- Dr Kunihiko Shimada, Principal Director, Hiroshima Organization for Global Peace (HOPe)
- Ms Ayaka Shiomura, Member of the House of Councillors ◊
- Prof Tatsujiro Suzuki, vice-director and professor of the Research Center for Nuclear Weapons Abolition, Nagasaki University (RECNA) ◊
- Dr Takao Takahara, Senior Fellow, PRIME (International Peace Research Institute, Meiji Gakuin University)
- Prof Fumihiko Yoshida, Director of the Research Center for Nuclear Weapons Abolition, Nagasaki University (RECNA) ◊
- Governor Hidehiko Yuzaki, Governor of Hiroshima Prefecture ◊
Kiribati
- Hon Tessie Eria Lambourne, member of the House of Assembly and Leader of the Opposition, formerly Kiribati’s Ambassador to the Republic of China from June 2018 to September 2019 and Secretary to the Cabinet ◊
Latvia
- Imants Liegis, former Minister of Defence and Ambassador ★
Malaysia
- Tan Sri Jawhar, former Chairman of the Institute of Strategic and International Studies Malaysia ◊
Marshall Islands
- Ms Rhea Moss-Christian, former Chair of the Marshall Islands National Nuclear Commission ◊
Mexico
- Ernesto Zedillo, former President of Mexico
Nepal
- Amb Sujata Koirala, former Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs, Government of Nepal, Leader, Nepali Congress Party ◊
- Amb Lucky Sherpa, former Member of Parliament, former Ambassador to Australia and New Zealand
Netherlands
- Jan Hoekema, former MP, Ambassador, and Mayor ★
- Bert Koenders, Professor Leiden University, former Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands and Under secretary General of the United Nations ★
New Zealand
- Prof Robert Ayson, Professor of Strategic Studies, Victoria University of Wellington
- Rt Hon. Helen Clark, former Prime Minister ◊
- Dr Kevin Clements, Director the Toda Peace Institute
- Hon Nikki Kaye, former Deputy Leader of the National Party, former Minister of Education and former Member of the New Zealand Parliament ◊
- Dr Tanya Ogilvie-White, APLN Senior Research Adviser ◊
- Ms Angela Woodward, Council Chair (Acting), Disarmament and Security Centre, Aotearoa New Zealand ◊
Nigeria
- Dr Olamide Samuel, Special Advisor to the Executive Secretary, African Commission on Nuclear Energy (YGLN) ★
Norway
- Kjell Magne Bondevik, former Prime Minister and founder and Emeritus Chair of the Oslo Center ★
- Gro Harlem Brundtland, former Prime Minister ★
Pakistan
- Dr Mansoor Ahmed, former Stanton and Postdoctoral Research Fellow with the Project on Managing the Atom/International Security Program at the Belfer Center (2015-2018)
- Dr Rabia Akthar, Director, Centre for Security, Strategy and Policy Research at the University of Lahore
- Prof Pervez Hoodbhoy, former member of the UN Secretary General’s Advisory Board on Disarmament (2013-2018) ◊
- Gen (ret.) Jehangir Karamat, former Chief of Army Staff of the Pakistan Army ◊
- Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed, Chairman, Pakistan Senate Defence Committee & Former Minister for Information, Culture & Tourism.◊
- Dr Adil Sultan Muhammad, Dean Faculty of Aerospace and Strategic Studies (FASS), Air University, Islamabad
- Dr Abdul Hameed Nayyar, founding member of the International Panel on Fissile Materials
- Dr Sadia Tasleem, Lecturer at the Department of Defense and Strategic Studies at Quaid-i-Azam University ◊
Philippines
- Prof Mely Caballero-Anthony, Professor of International Relations, President’s Chair in International Relations and Security Studies, Associate Dean and Head of the Centre for Non-Traditional Security (NTS) Studies at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore ◊
Poland
- Adam Kobieracki, Ambassador and former NATO Assistant Secretary General for Operations ★
- Dr Janusz Onyszkiewicz, former Minister of National Defence ★
Portugal
- Dr Ricardo Baptista Leite, Politician, Medical Doctor, and founder and President of UNITE Parliamentarians for Global Health ★
- Dr Aderito Vicente, Non-Resident Fellow, Odesa Center for Nonproliferation (OdCNP)
Republic of Korea
- Lt Gen (ret.) In-Bum Chun, former Lieutenant General, ROK Army
- Prof Jun Bong-geun, Professor, Institute of Foreign Affairs and National Security(IFANS), Korean National Diplomatic Academy (KNDA) ◊
- Amb Kim Sung-hwan, former Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade ◊
- Dr Lee Sang Hyun, President, Sejong Institute ◊
- Dr Sangsoo Lee, Associated Senior Fellow at the Institute for Security and Development Policy (ISDP), Stockholm
- Prof Yongsoo Hwang, President of the Korean Institute of Nuclear Materials Management ◊
- Prof Chungin Moon, former National Security Adviser to the President of the Republic of Korea ◊
- Amb Kim Sook, former Korean Ambassador to the United Nations and Executive Director of Ban Ki-moon Foundation for a Better Future
- Prof Man-Sung Yim, Professor, Department of Nuclear and Quantum Engineering, Director of Nuclear Nonproliferation Education and Research Center, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology
Serbia
- Konstantin Samofalov, former member of Parliament of Serbia, Socialdemocratic party Secretary General ★
- Dr Goran Svilanović, former Minister of Foreign Affairs and former Secretary General of the Regional Cooperation Council ★
Singapore
- Amb Kishore Mahbubani, Founding Dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore ◊
- Amb Ong Keng Yong, 11th Secretary-General of ASEAN (2003-2007), Executive Deputy Chairman of the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies at the Nanyang Technological University
Spain
- Dr Mira Milosevich, Senior Analyst for Russia, Eurasia and the Balkans, Elcano Royal Institute ★
- Dr Javier Solana, former Secretary General of NATO ★
Sweden
- Dr Hans Blix, former Minister of Foreign Affairs and former Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) ★
- Ingvar Carlsson, former Prime Minister ★
- Rolf Ekéus, former Chairman of UN Special Commission on Iraq, Chairman of SIPRI, Stockholm International Peace Research Institute ★
- Sven Hirdman, former Ambassador to Russia, former Deputy Minister of Defence
- Henrik Salander, former Ambassador for Disarmament, member Swedish Academy of War Sciences ★
- Annika Soder, former state secretary for foreign affairs, Sweden, and chair of the European Institute of Peace
Switzerland
- Dr Thomas Greminger, Director, Geneva Centre for Security Policy and former Secretary General of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe ★
- Tobias Vestner, Head of Research and Policy Advice and Head of Security and Law, Geneva Centre for Security Policy
Thailand
- Amb Sawanit Kongsiri, former Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and former Thai representative to the International Atomic Energy Agency ◊
- Amb Kasit Piromya, former Foreign Minister ◊
Turkey
- Prof Dr Mustafa Aydın, President, International Relations Council ★
- Hikmet Çetin, former Minister of Foreign Affairs ★
- Faruk Loğoğlu, former Undersecretary of the Turkish Foreign Ministry and former Ambassador of Turkey to the United States of America ★
- Vahit Erdem, former Undersecretary for Defence Industries ★
Ukraine
- Valeriia Hesse, Non-Resident Fellow, Odesa Center for Nonproliferation (OdCNP) (YGLN) ★
- Dr Polina Sinovets, Director, Odesa Center for Nonproliferation (OdCNP)
Vietnam
- Amb Ton Nu Thi Ninh, former Ambassador of Viet Nam to the EU, former vice-chair, Foreign Affairs Committee Vietnam National Assembly ◊
- Dr Minh Tuan Ta, Assistant to the President of Vietnam Fatherland Front ◊
Institutional affiliations are listed for identification purposes and do not necessarily reflect institutional endorsement of the above recommendations. The opinions articulated above represent the views of the signatories and do not necessarily reflect the position of the European Leadership Network or the entirety of its membership. The ELN’s aim is to encourage debates that will help develop Europe’s capacity to address the pressing foreign, defence, and security policy challenges of our time.
Image: Flickr Zach Stern