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On Allocation by Australia of Funds to Implement G8 Global Partnership Projects
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation
Daily News Bulletin
June 29, 2004

At the recent Sea Island summit, the G8 leaders welcomed the fact that Australia and a number of other countries had joined as donors the Global Partnership, established in 2002 at the G-8 summit in Kananaskis, Canada. The government of Australia has taken a decision to allocate even in 2004 10 million Australian dollars to carry out Global Partnership projects in the Russian Federation involving the disposition of decommissioned Pacific Fleet nuclear submarines.

In order to speed up the putting of these funds to use, Australia will channel them via the Russian-Japanese Agreement in force since 1993 on cooperation to assist with the liquidation of nuclear weapons to be reduced in the Russian Federation. Under this Agreement a joint project with Japan is being carried out for the disposition of one such nuclear submarine in Russia's far east.

On June 24 a decision of the Board of the Russian-Japanese Cooperation Committee - the joint executing agency for the 1993 Agreement - was signed in Moscow, by which a special escrow account of the secretariat of the Committee will be opened to which Australia will transfer the allocated funds. Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan Yoriko Kawaguchi took part in the signing ceremony. Now specific projects are to be agreed upon, to which the Australian assistance will be directed.

Thus, a step of no small importance has been taken towards the practical implementation of the obligations of Australia under the Global Partnership. One should especially note that Canberra supports a top-priority area of this initiative, disposition of the nuclear submarines. We believe all this will serve as a good example for the other donor countries that have joined the Global Partnership recently as concerns a prompt switching of political accords onto lines of practical cooperation.