Statement by the President Concerning the Conference on the Discontinuance of Nuclear Weapon Tests.

AMBASSADOR Arthur H. Dean leaves on Wednesday for Geneva to head the United States Delegation to the Conference on the Discontinuance of Nuclear Weapon Tests where on March 21 negotiations among the United States, the United Kingdom and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics will be resumed.

Our Nation is indeed fortunate to have the services of Ambassador Dean at this decisive stage of the sessions. He has accumulated extensive experience in international negotiation of difficult and complex issues. I know that he will present the American point of view with the greatest clarity and skill.

Ambassador Dean and the United States Delegation will be engaged in an enterprise which could not only contribute to halting the proliferation of nuclear weapons but also have important implications for the future of disarmament and arms limitation negotiations and the future peace and security of the world.

The United States Government is determined to do all that is possible to conclude a safeguarded agreement on a sound and equitable basis.

The United States and British Delegations have labored for two and one-half years at the Conference to reach agreement with the USSR on a treaty under which nuclear weapon tests would be prohibited and an adequate control system established. While much groundwork for a treaty has been laid, critical issues remain to be resolved.

In recent weeks, the United States has undertaken a thorough review of the technical and political problems still outstanding. As a result, the United States Delegation will return to the conference table with proposals which could constitute the basis for a treaty fair to all contracting parties. It is my hope that the proposals will be accepted and that the negotiators will be able to proceed with all appropriate speed toward the conclusion of the first international arms control agreement in the nuclear age.