A/RES/53/77 Page 43 Z BILATERAL NUCLEAR ARMS NEGOTIATIONS AND NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT The General Assembly, Recalling its previous relevant resolutions, Recognizing the fundamental changes that have taken place with respect to international security, which have permitted agreements on deep reductions in the nuclear armaments of the States possessing the largest inventories of such weapons, Mindful that it is the responsibility and obligation of all States to contribute to the process of the relaxation of international tension and to the strengthening of international peace and security and, in this connection, to adopt and implement measures towards the attainment of general and complete disarmament under strict and effective international control, Appreciating a number of positive developments in the field of nuclear disarmament, in particular the Treaty between the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the United States of America on the Elimination of Their Intermediate-Range and Shorter-Range Missiles,64 and the treaties on the reduction and limitation of strategic arms, Appreciating also the indefinite extension of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons,2 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 detargeting strategic nuclear missiles, Noting the positive 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 1996,65 Urging early action to complete the ratification of the Treaty on Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms52 and further intensification of efforts to accelerate the implementation of agreements and unilateral decisions relating to nuclear arms reduction, 64 The United Nations Disarmament Yearbook, vol. 12:1987 (United Nations publication, Sales No. E.88.IX.2), appendix VII. 65 A/51/131, annex I. /...