A/RES/52/38 Page 20 Appreciating also the indefinite extension of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons,5 and acknowledging the importance of the determined pursuit by the nuclear-weapon States of systematic and progressive efforts to reduce nuclear weapons globally, with the ultimate goal of eliminating those weapons, and by all States of general and complete disarmament under strict and effective international control, Welcoming the steps that have already been taken by the Russian Federation and the United States of America to begin the process of reducing the number of nuclear weapons and removing such weapons from a deployed status, and bilateral agreements on de-targeting strategic nuclear missiles, Noting the new climate of relations between the States of the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the United States of America, which permits them to intensify their cooperative efforts to ensure the safety, security, and environmentally sound destruction of nuclear weapons, Recalling the Moscow Summit Declaration on Nuclear Safety and Security of April 1996,45 Urging early action to complete the ratification of the Treaty on Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms33 and further intensification of efforts to accelerate the implementation of agreements and unilateral decisions relating to nuclear arms reduction, Appreciating the joint statement on future reductions in nuclear forces and the joint statement outlining the elements of an agreement for higher-velocity theatre missile defence systems, both issued on 21 March 1997 by the Russian Federation and the United States of America,34 as well as their joint statement of 10 May 1995 in connection with the Treaty on the Limitation of Anti-Ballistic Missile Systems,46 Welcoming the significant reductions made by other nuclear-weapon States, and encouraging all nuclearweapon States to consider appropriate measures relating to nuclear disarmament, 1. Welcomes the entry into force of the Treaty on the Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms, signed in Moscow on 31 July 1991 by the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the United States of America,32 including the Protocol to that Treaty signed at Lisbon on 23 May 1992 by the parties thereto, and the exchange of documents of ratification between Belarus, Kazakhstan, the Russian Federation, Ukraine and the United States of America on 5 December 1994 at Budapest; 2. Also welcomes the signing of the Treaty between the Russian Federation and the United States of America on Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms in Moscow on 3 January 1993, 33 and urges the parties to take the steps necessary to bring that Treaty into force at the earliest possible date; 3. Further welcomes the joint statement issued at Helsinki on 21 March 1997,34 in which Presidents Yeltsin and Clinton reached an understanding that after the entry into force of START II, their two countries would immediately commence negotiations on a START III agreement, which would include the establishment, by 31 December 2007, of lower aggregate levels of 2,000 to 2,500 strategic nuclear warheads, take measures relating to the transparency of strategic nuclear warhead inventories and destruction of strategic nuclear warheads, and carry out other actions to promote the irreversibility of these deep reductions; 45 A/51/131, annex I. 46 United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 944, No. 13446. /...