PARIS, Dec 8: French President Nicolas Sarkozy presented an ambitious European plan on Monday to the United Nations to revive global nuclear disarmament efforts.

Sarkozy, in a letter to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, said the EU wants a global ban on nuclear tests, a moratorium on production of fissile material and a treaty banning on ground-to-ground short- and medium-range missiles.

“We are convinced of the necessity to work for general disarmament,” said Sarkozy, whose country is one of the few world nuclear powers and currently holds the rotating EU presidency.

“Europe has already done a lot for disarmament,” Sarkozy said. “Europe is ready to do more.”

The EU measure is aimed at reviving nuclear disarmament efforts that have lagged since the end of the Cold War, even as new nuclear powers have emerged.

There are an estimated 20,000 or more nuclear weapons around the world. The nuclear-armed nations are the United States, Russia, Britain, France, China, India, Pakistan and North Korea. Israel is widely believed to have nuclear arms, but neither confirms nor denies it.

The EU measure comes after US President-elect Barack Obama said during his campaign that he would “make the goal of eliminating all nuclear weapons a central element in our nuclear policy.”

Among other measures, the EU plan calls for “the opening of consultations on a treaty banning ground-to-ground short- and medium-range missiles.”

It also urges progress in talks between the United States and Russia on a follow-up to the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, which significantly cut American and Russian nuclear arsenals.

Sarkozy’s letter came the day before an international group of former world dignitaries is scheduled to launch a campaign in Paris to eliminate nuclear weapons.

Delegates from the group, called Global Zero, will go to Moscow for talks with Russian officials on Wednesday and to Washington to see Bush administration officials on Thursday. Listed supporters include former US President Jimmy Carter, former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and former officials from India and Pakistan.—AP