WELLINGTON, June 1 (Xinhuanet) -- New Zealand is taking further steps to help stop the spread of weapons of mass destruction, Foreign Minister Phil Goff and Minister of Disarmament and Arms Control Marian Hobbs said in a statement Tuesday.

    "The New Zealand government has decided to join the G8 Global Partnership and to support the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI)," the ministers said in a statement.

    Both are programs designed to supplement existing multilateral efforts by taking practical actions against emerging proliferationrisks, they said.

    Global security is increasingly under challenge and there's therisk of weapons of mass destruction falling into the hands of terrorists or states that are not fully complying with international treaties, the statement said.

    The Global Partnership against the Spread of Weapons and Materials of Mass Destruction was launched by the G8 leaders in 2002. It aims to address the WMD legacies of the former Soviet Union in the first instance through a range of projects to secure and dispose of radioactive materials and chemical weapons, dismantle nuclear submarines and re-employ former weapons scientists.

    New Zealand will contribute one million NZ dollars (about 630,000 US dollars)in 2003/04 to a cooperative project in Russia, theyannounced.

    New Zealand has also joined a number of other countries in supporting the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) which was launched last year by President Bush to strengthen international cooperation against trafficking in WMD and their delivery systems,they said.

    The ministers said these further contributions to stopping the spread of dangerous weapons and materials reflect New Zealand's commitment to bolstering the multilateral disarmament and arms control treaty system.

    "New Zealand has a strong record of supporting non-proliferation objectives. Our Nuclear Free Zone Act remains a decisive contribution to the global effort by ensuring that nuclear weapons stay out of this part of the world," the statementsaid.

    They stressed that additional measures to stop the spread of WMD must be matched by practical progress in disarmament by those states possessing nuclear weapons and renunciation of plans to renew and refine existing arsenals.

    "New Zealand will continue to champion the cause for nuclear disarmament as the only real guarantee against the risk that such weapons will spread and one day be used with catastrophic consequences," the ministers reiterated. Enditem