Chair's Corner

Dear Visitor,
Thank you for your interest in the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), and welcome to the official website. The NSG is a group of forty-eight nuclear supplier countries that seeks to contribute to the nonproliferation of nuclear weapons by implementing two sets of Guidelines for nuclear exports and nuclear-related exports. These Guidelines, as well as additional information on the NSG, including the results of all recent Plenary Meetings and an IAEA Information Circular
document entitled “The Nuclear Suppliers Group: Its Guidelines, Origins, Structure, and Role”, can be found on the Documents page of this website.

It is an honour for Argentina to have been entrusted by NSG Participating Governments for the fourth time to chair this crucial export control regime which plays a vital role in the entire non-proliferation architecture. It is my privilege to carry out this duty, and I will do my utmost to build on my predecessors' dedicated work to advance the Group's technical goals. In this regard, I thank my predecessor, H.E. Tomasz Łękarski of Poland, for organising and hosting an excellent NSG Plenary Week in Warsaw, Poland, from 20 to 24 June 2022. It marked the 30th Anniversary of the first regular plenary meeting of the Nuclear Suppliers Group that was held in Warsaw in 1992, and the establishment of the Guidelines for Transfers of Nuclear-Related Dual-Use Equipment. The 1992 Warsaw Plenary Meeting also accepted Japan’s offer to serve as Point of Contact for the NSG. Japan’s 30-year support, through its Permanent Mission to the International Organizations in Vienna in fulfilling the duties of the NSG Point of Contact—crucial for the appropriate functioning of the entire Group—is highly appreciated.

Despite the challenges of the COVID-19 Pandemic, the Group could maintain its focus on technical issues important to the implementation of the NSG Control Lists by exchanging views and agreeing on a number of proposals to clarify and update the Dual-Use List at the 2022 NSG Plenary Meeting, as you can read in the “Guidelines” section of this website. Revision 12 of the NSG Part 2 Guidelines will be published on the IAEA Website as revised INFCIRC/254 Part 2 in accordance with established NSG practice. As Chair, I wish to reaffirm the significance of updating the NSG Guidelines to keep pace with the evolving global security landscape and a fast-paced nuclear and nuclear-related industry. At previous Plenary meetings, NSG PGs have taken note of national experiences in implementing the NSG Guidelines as well as of information and national good practices on licensing and enforcement—I expect this focus to continue under the Argentine Chairmanship. Of particular interest to me are transit and transshipment issues. I firmly believe that we must safeguard and continue the valuable technical work of the NSG in the spirit of a constructive multilateral approach.

It remains vital for issues which are the essence of the Group’s responsibility in the overall nuclear non-proliferation architecture, of which the Treaty on the Non Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) is and remains the cornerstone. The upcoming 10th Review Conference will be a great opportunity for showing the contribution of the NSG to the global non-proliferation regime and the full, complete and effective implementation of the NPT. As in 2015, the Group will be once again present. I want to express my appreciation for my predecessor and the Troika's efforts to continue contact with outreach partners despite the challenges posed by the pandemic. One of the important aspects of the activities of the NSG is outreach to third countries. In the coming months we will continue to pursue our efforts in this regard. The NSG has held informal dialogues with the nuclear industry since the Bern NSG Plenary in 2017. I hope that, conditions permitting, we can reengage again with our national industry representatives during the Argentine Chairmanship. As NSG Chair, I will work with Participating Governments to ensure that the NSG and its Guidelines continue to effectively address proliferation challenges. The NSG calls consistently on all nuclear supplier States to express their responsible approach to nuclear exports by adhering to the NSG Guidelines. We also continue to welcome that numerous non-NSG participants have harmonised their national export control systems with the NSG Guidelines and Control Lists.

I would like to finish by expressing my gratitude to those Participating Governments who have contributed to making the website of the NSG available in different languages (Spanish, German, Russian, Chinese and French, together with English), which helps us to reach out to the wider global non-proliferation community, both in our regions and also within our own countries.

Thank you for your interest in reading and learning about the NSG.

H.E. Gustavo Eduardo Ainchil,
Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Vienna
Argentina Republic
Chair of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (2022-2023)