I will focus on the underpinnings of the evolution of the Inter-American System, which underlies and explains the adoption of Treaty of Tlatelelco, as well as other key regional Institutions: Zone of Peace; the bilateral nuclear safeguards agreement between Argentina and Brazil; the quadrilateral nuclear safeguards agreement among Argentina, Brazil, the Brazilian- Argentine Agency for Accounting and Control of Nuclear Materials and the International Atomic Agency; the Declaration of Cartagena of the Presidents of the Andean Group; the declaration of Guadalajara; the 1991 Declaration of Mendoza; widespread adherence to BWC, CWC and NPT.

The Inter-American System, and the OAS, has developed itself based on the principle of peaceful resolution of conflicts, the development of Democracy and respects for Human Rights.

Latin American countries were the first to commit themselves against nuclear proliferation and to codify this commitment in a nuclear-weapon-free zone arrangement, the Treaty for the prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Latin American and the Caribbean, known as the Treaty of Tlatelelco.

As a result of the entry into force of the Treaty of Tlatelolco in 1968, two years before the NPT, the risk of nuclear proliferation is null in this region, and the lowest of any worldwide.

Argentina has a very clearly stated position regarding the use of nuclear energy. Argentina has channeled its highly developed nuclear capacity towards the peaceful development of nuclear technology. This is the commitment and the policy of the Argentine Republic.