Senator Douglas Roche, O.C., Chair

In January 2002, the MPI International Steering Committee and the Global Security Institute Board of Directors unanimously endorsed a resolution accepting "the Middle Powers Initiative as a program of the Global Security Institute." The leadership of GSI and MPI are confident that the new alliance will play a dynamic and pivotal role in the international movement to eliminate nuclear weapons.

MPI, which started in 1998, is widely regarded in the international arena as a highly effective catalyst in promoting practical steps toward the elimination of nuclear weapons.

As citizen initiatives go, MPI is still young. At our first meeting, March 19-20, 1998, we set out to encourage and educate the nuclear weapons states to take immediate practical steps that reduce nuclear dangers, and commence negotiations to eliminate nuclear weapons. We chose to develop effective relationships with middle power governments and relevant citizen organizations.

Since then, MPI has sent numerous delegations of experts and diplomats to governments, particularly the NATO States and other US-allied countries. Most recently, in May 2001, we led a delegation to Ottawa to meet with Prime Minister Chrétien and influential members of the Canadian Parliament to encourage them to take a stronger stance against US missile defense and space weaponization plans, which they have subsequently done. MPI has also held strategy consultations at the United Nations, the Rockefeller Foundation, The Carter Center in Atlanta, and the "Thinkers' Lodge" at Pugwash, Nova Scotia. Our strategy consultations are designed to strengthen the treaties that protect humanity from the further spread of nuclear dangers providing a secluded, off-the-record environment for diplomats and policy makers to come to a deeper understanding of one-another's positions before returning to the formal negotiating table. Our publications have received wide attention, including "Fast Track to Zero Nuclear Weapons: The Middle Powers Initiative", which highlights the deepening nuclear disarmament crisis, the need for rapid nuclear disarmament, and explores how MPI is working to support middle power governments in advancing such a goal.

In this same time period, a new coalition of countries, calling themselves the "New Agenda" (Brazil, Egypt, Ireland, Mexico, New Zealand, South Africa, and Sweden) have established themselves as the most powerful political force today to influence the nuclear states. MPI has built an informal, close working relationship with the New Agenda group. Together, the substantive work of like-minded governments and civil society experts is moving the nuclear disarmament agenda forward.

MPI's diplomatic and political strategy is still evolving, and we plan to deepen and strengthen this work. I am profoundly grateful to my colleagues in this enterprise as well as to our funders and supporters.

MPI stands for the total elimination of nuclear weapons through a series of practical steps. We will stay focussed on helping the world community move rapidly towards this goal.

Senator Douglas Roche, O.C.
Chairman, Middle Powers Initiative

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