2011 SESSION OF THE CONFERENCE ON DISARMAMENT

The Conference on Disarmament, the world's sole multilateral forum for disarmament negotiations, will hold the first public plenary of its 2011 session on Tuesday, 25 January at the Palais des Nations in Geneva.

The session will open under the presidency of Canada. The presidency of the Conference rotates among its Member States according to the English alphabetical order, with each President holding office for four working weeks. Chile, China, Colombia, Cuba and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea will also hold the presidency during 2011. The three parts of the 2011 session of the Conference will be held from 24 January to 1 April for the first part; 16 May to 1 July for the second part; and 2 August to 16 September for the third part.

In accordance with its rules of procedure, at its opening meeting, the Conference "shall adopt its agenda for the year at the beginning of the session. In doing so, the Conference shall take into account the recommendations made to it by the United Nations General Assembly, the proposals by its Members, and decisions of the Conference."

During the first week of its session, the Conference will hold three plenary meetings on 25, 26 and 27 January. During this period, it will work on adopting its agenda and programme of work for the year.

On Wednesday, 26 January, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will address the Conference.

Like in previous years, the items on the agenda of the Conference in 2011 will be cessation of the nuclear arms race and nuclear disarmament; prevention of nuclear war, including all related matters; prevention of an arms race in outer space; effective international arrangements to assure non-nuclear weapon States against the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons; new types of weapons of mass destruction and new systems of such weapons, radiological weapons; comprehensive programme of disarmament; transparency in armaments; and consideration and adoption of the annual report and any other report, as appropriate, to the General Assembly of the United Nations.

Member States of the Conference

The 65 members of the Conference are Algeria, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bangladesh, Belarus, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Cameroon, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Cuba, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ecuador, Egypt, Ethiopia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Malaysia, Mexico, Mongolia, Morocco, Myanmar, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Pakistan, Peru, Poland, Republic of Korea, Romania, Russian Federation, Senegal. Slovakia, Spain, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States, Venezuela, Viet Nam and Zimbabwe.

For use of the information media; not an official record

DC11/001E