New York, Sep 24 (DPA) The UN Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution Thursday that allows the global body to address nuclear threats and adopts measures curbing the export of nuclear materials.
The 15-nation council adopted the resolution pushed forward by the US to open its one-day meeting on nuclear disarmament. US President Barack Obama called for the vote immediately after he opened the meeting.

The resolution supports and strengthens the role of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in carrying out its duties of monitoring nuclear plants and nuclear fuel and minimising the risk of nuclear proliferation worldwide.

The resolution called on countries to sign and ratify, if they have not yet done so, the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT). While NPT is in already in effect, CTBT is not.

It reaffirmed the alienable rights of countries to possess nuclear energy for peaceful purposes “without discrimination”. It would allow supplier states to demand the return of nuclear material and equipment if the receiving states are found in non-compliance with IAEA safeguard regulations.

“We harbour no illusions about the difficulty of bringing about a world without nuclear weapons,” Obama said. “We know there are plenty of cynics, and that there will be setbacks to prove their point. But there will also be days like today to push us forward - days that tell a different story.”

The US has signed the test ban treaty but has not ratified it. Obama pledged to bring the US up to date with that treaty.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon praised the US and Russia for leading nuclear disarmament by example.

“Nuclear disarmament is the only sane path to a safer world,” he said.

“I urge the Security Council to make the most of this moment,” he told the council meeting filled with celebrities, including former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger and actor Michael Douglas, who is a UN messenger of peace on disarmament.

“It should not be a one-time event,” Ban said. “We must sustain the momentum.”

In addition to Obama, Presidents Hu Jintao of China, Nicholas Sarkozy of France and Dmitri Medvedev of Russia and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown were scheduled to attend. Those five countries are permanent members with veto power in the 15-nation Security Council.

The 10 council members elected for two-year terms were also represented by their presidents and prime ministers. They included Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, Libyan leader Muammer Gaddafi, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, Mexican President Felipe Calderon, Vietnamese President Nguyen Minh Triet and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.