Shanghai Five Confirms Support For 1972 Abm Treaty

The Foreign Ministers of the Shanghai Five reiterate their support for the 1972 ABM /Anti-Ballistic Missile/ Treaty as a bulwark of strategic offensive arms treaty /START/, runs a joint communique summing up the ministerial meeting in Moscow. The sides spoke up against any attempts to undermine the ABM Treaty, which may have unforeseeable consequences for peace and security and lead to chain reaction in the proliferation of missiles and missile technologies. The ministers expressed confidence in the world community's ability to politically counteract missile technologies' proliferation. The joint communique also stresses the great importance of boosting strategic stability at the global and regional levels, preserving and developing the system of treaties and agreements on arms non-proliferation and on disarmament. The participants in today's meeting deem it necessary to ensure that the process of reducing weapons, primarily strategic offensive arms, be ongoing.