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Remarks at the Signing Ceremony of the Biological Weapons Convention.

April 10, 1972

Mr. Secretary of State, Ambassador Cromer, Ambassador Dobrynin, Your Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen:

First, may I subscribe to the statements that have been made by the British Ambassador and the Soviet Ambassador.1

1Preceding the President's remarks, the Earl of Cromer, Ambassador from Great Britain, and Anatoly F. Dobrynin, Ambassador from the Soviet Union, spoke. Their remarks are printed in the Department of State Bulletin (vol. LXVI, pp. 615 and 616).

Second, may I congratulate all of those not here at this head table, but many in this room and all over the world, representatives of our various governments who for years have worked for the achievement of these agreements. The contributions that have been made by the British Government, by the Soviet Government, by the Government of the United States, and others concerned, would not have been possible except for those working for arms control in each of our countries. We congratulate all of them who have been working in these activities.

As has already been indicated, we have been here in this room before. We recall the nonproliferation agreement ceremony which occurred in 1970. We recall also the seabed ceremony, and that treaty will soon come into force, and now we have this ceremony today.

The Soviet Ambassador has referred to the negotiations with regard to the limitation of strategic arms. We are working toward that end, an end, as he has indicated, which will serve not only the interests of peace between our two countries, but, we trust, also will serve the interests of peace for all the world.

But as we look at these various agreements, we must understand how much they mean, and also what they still need if we are to achieve our ultimate goal. As far as these agreements are concerned, they are basically not an end in themselves. They limit arms, but they do not mean the end of war. They are means to an end, and that end is peace.

In terms of the agreement that is being signed today, it has very great significance. It means that all the scientists of the world, certainly a universal community, whatever their language, whatever their race, whatever their background, instead of working to develop biological weapons which one nation might use against another nation, now may devote their entire energy toward working against the enemy of all mankind--disease.

For that reason, that agreement is one of enormous significance to all of those who have followed its development. But as we look at these agreements and recognize that they are only means to an end, we must recognize also what more needs to be done to achieve our goal: Not just to limiting arms, but of ending the threat of war which hangs over the world.

Insofar as that goal is concerned, we begin with one proposition, and that is that each nation of the world must renounce the use of force, the use of aggression against other nations. We must also recognize another proposition, and that is that a great responsibility particularly rests upon the great powers, that every great power must follow the principle that it should not encourage directly or indirectly any other nation to use force or armed aggression against one of its neighbors.

It is these great principles which we must eventually implement if we are truly to have a world of peace, and it is these great principles that I am confident all of us will work toward as we take this step today.

Note: The President spoke at 11:22 a.m. in the Main Conference Room at the Department of State. He spoke without referring to notes.

The convention was signed on behalf of the United States, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, and 71 other countries. Similar ceremonies were held in London and Moscow. Signing for the United States in Washington were Secretary of State William P. Rogers and James F. Leonard, Jr., Assistant Director for International Relations, United States Arms Control and Disarmament Agency. Ambassador Cromer and Ambassador Dobrynin signed in Washington for Great Britain and the Soviet Union.

The "Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons and on Their Destruction" was negotiated by the Conference of the Committee on Dis. armament (CCD) in Geneva. Ambassador Leonard headed the U.S. delegation to the CCD conference.

Richard Nixon, Remarks at the Signing Ceremony of the Biological Weapons Convention. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/254595

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