PRAGUE (Reuters) – US President Barack Obama will call for the elimination of all nuclear weapons across the globe, in remarks today he hopes will lend credibility to his message in atomic disputes with Iran and North Korea.
Visiting Prague during an eight-day visit to Europe, Obama plans to deliver what his aides have billed as a major speech on weapons proliferation.
Obama, who is making his debut on the world stage, said in Strasbourg, France on Friday that he would lay out an agenda to secure the world’s loose nuclear materials and halt the spread of illicit weapons.
He added that he wanted to offer an agenda “to seek the goal of a world without nuclear weapons.”
“Even with the Cold War over, the spread of nuclear weapons or the theft of nuclear material could lead to the extermination of any city on the planet,” Obama said.
Obama, a former US senator who succeeded President George W Bush in January, has long shown interest in the issue of halting weapons proliferation and wants to make it a signature foreign policy issue for his new administration.
“The president has been very focused on these issues of proliferation for many years,” White House Deputy National Security Adviser Denis McDonough told reporters.
“Tomorrow, I think you’ll hear the president, in a very comprehensive way, outline many of the things that he’s been talking about and working on for some time,” McDonough said.
While in Prague, Obama will also discuss climate change and energy security with the 27 leaders of European Union countries at a summit hosted by the Czech EU presidency, undermined by a government collapse last week.
Thousands of Czechs are expected to turn up for Obama’s speech at a square outside the mediaeval Prague Castle, with the panorama of the historic Czech capital in the background.
