UN Secretary General Kofi Annan criticized proposals of President George Bush of the United States to set up a national missile defence (NMD) system

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan criticized proposals of President George Bush of the United States to set up a national missile defence (NMD) system The statement made by Kofi Annan and disseminated by the UN Secretariat press service notes that "in order to contribute to respect of law in international relations it is necessary to strengthen and develop existing agreements on disarmament and non-proliferation, in particular, to stop a new arms race and preserve peaceful space status." Noting that he had taken the U.S. President's proposals into consideration the UN Secretary General stressed that "these plans will inevitably affect global security and strategic stability." Kofi Annan appealed to all the states "to hold talks on concluding obligatory, from the legal viewpoint, agreements on disarmament which would be checkable and irreversible."