Dutch foreign affairs minister Bert Koenders will visit the US next week for several days of talks on nuclear weapons and the situation in Ukraine, news agency ANP reports.

Koenders will take part in the United Nations meeting on April 27 to discuss the UN’s non proliferation treaty which, the minister says, ‘is of vital importance to our security’.

‘We have to use this conference to make new advances,’ he said. ‘Given the current geopolitical tensions, it will be difficult but that does not make us any less determined. There are still 16,000 nuclear weapons out there and that is 16,000 too many.’

On Thursday, Koenders will travel to Washington where he will meet secretary of state John Kerry to talk about the various crises in Europe and the MH17 plane crash. ‘It is crucial we have and maintain international support in dealing with this disaster,’ Koenders said.