France Finally Signs On to Non-Proliferation Treaty

France on Monday officially became the last nuclear-weapons nation to adhere to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, 24 years after it was drafted to stop countries from spreading nuclear technology.

Ratification documents were filed at the State Department, spokesman Richard Boucher said. The United States serves as the formal repository for the treaty.

More than 150 countries have now agreed to the treaty, including all of the known nuclear powers, the State Department said. The potentially nuclear-capable nations of India, Israel, Pakistan and Taiwan have not signed the accord.

French Foreign Ministry spokesman Maurice Gourdault-Montagne announced the ratification in Paris just before the U.S. ceremonies.

The treaty, drawn up in 1968, prohibits countries from spreading technology to manufacture nuclear weapons but sets out broad guidelines for cooperating in civilian nuclear areas.

President Francois Mitterrand announced in June, 1991, that France would sign the treaty, and the National Assembly adopted it in June.

France originally refused to sign because it felt the accord kept an unequal balance in the world in favor of the two nuclear superpowers, the United States and the former Soviet Union.

Ever since Charles de Gaulle, France has maintained an independent nuclear force and has refused to participate in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s unified military command.

The State Department, in its announcement Monday of the latest treaty ratification, said that it warmly welcomed the inclusion of France.