Opening of the 2017 session of the Conference on Disarmament

Mr. President,
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen:

It’s a pleasure to address you today at the opening of the 2017 session of the Conference on Disarmament and I wish you a happy New Year. We have already heard the urgent call by Secretary-General Guterres to the Conference to work hard to find compromise to advance disarmament. Allow me to add a few thoughts from my perspective.

In the past year, there have been various encouraging efforts by many in the disarmament community to seriously break the deadlock. Five proposals for a programme of work were tabled and I very much hope that this will be followed by substantive progress and agreement on a programme of work for 2017.

Mr. President,
You have already started consultations on new and innovative approaches to bring the Conference back to work. I congratulate you on this initiative and I encourage all of us to actively engage and contribute to its implementation.

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Member States have shown that disarmament remains an important priority. Decisions on negotiations towards a legally binding instrument to prohibit nuclear weapons and on the establishment of a high-level fissile material cut-off treaty expert preparatory group are a case in point. This shows that if the Conference on Disarmament does not make progress on such important topics, the discussion will take place in other fora and in separate structures.

Establishing separate structures, while perpetuating the deadlock in the CD, does not only have political, but also financial implications. The Conference on Disarmament has a historically proven track record on crucial disarmament treaties and we should leverage that and make it work again in an efficient way.

Over the past three years, I have repeatedly highlighted the importance of reviewing the working methods, expanding membership and opening up discussions in the Conference on Disarmament to Civil Society and I continue to believe that these are important issues which could facilitate breaking the deadlock. The informal CD/Civil Society fora in 2015 and 2016 were deemed successful by both sides, but more engagement by and with civil society partners is needed. 2017 is a busy year for the disarmament community with a number of important meetings and conferences to be held in Vienna, Geneva and New York at the end of which we are planning to hold the next informal CD/Civil Society forum in the beginning of 2018.

I would also like to take this opportunity to remind Member States of the need to ensure the necessary funding to support meetings and structures of the four Treaty Bodies supported by the Geneva Branch of the Office for Disarmament Affairs. As 2016 has shown these structures are facing serious challenges which have the potential to jeopardize their very existence and every effort should be made to address this matter.

As the Secretary-General highlighted in his message, disarmament can play an important role in ending existing conflicts and preventing the outbreak of new strife. In 2017, we therefore need to build on the efforts made last year. We need to make tangible progress in the Conference on Disarmament both on its core items as well as on relevant new ones. I and my colleagues continue to stand ready to support all of your efforts and look forward to working with you in the year ahead.

Thank you very much.