CONFERENCE ON DISARMAMENT HEARS STATEMENTS FROM GERMANY, BULGARIA, NORWAY, ECUADOR, SLOVAKIA, ITALY AND SWITZERLAND

The Conference on Disarmament this morning opened the third and last part of its 2005 session, hearing general statements from Germany, Bulgaria, Norway, Ecuador, Slovakia, Italy and Switzerland on their respective positions on reaching a consensus on a programme of work in order for the Conference to meet global disarmament challenges.

At the onset of the meeting, Ambassador Masood Khan of Pakistan, President of the Conference on Disarmament, welcomed new diplomats who had assumed their responsibilities in the Conference, namely, Ambassador Bernhard Brasack of Germany, Ambassador Petko Draganov of Bulgaria and Ambassador Juan Carlos Faidutti Estrada of Ecuador. He also bade farewell to Ambassador Kalman Petocz of Slovakia who was leaving Geneva.

The speakers expressed their support for efforts to bring the Conference on Disarmament closer to a programme of work, including the A5 proposal and the "food for thought" non-paper. Among the subjects raised in the course of the meeting were international arms control and disarmament through multilateral efforts, the Seventh Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference, the latest Six Party Talks on the Korean Peninsula, national security interests and international terrorism.

Also speaking at this morning's meeting were the representatives of the United States and the Russian Federation.

The next plenary of the Conference will be held at 10 a.m. on Thursday, 18 August. The third and last part of the 2005 session of the Conference will end on 23 September.


Statements

BERNHARD BRASACK (Germany) at the onset of his remarks said Germany supported all efforts which would bring the Conference on Disarmament closer to a programme of work and in particular the A5 proposal which was considered by Germany to be an acceptable comprehensive compromise proposal which took into account the differing priorities and security concerns. He fully shared the view expressed by Secretary-General Kofi Annan in his report "In Larger Freedom" that success through multilateralism was not always guaranteed, but that "States have no reasonable alternative to working together, even if collaboration means taking the priorities of your partners seriously to ensure that they will take seriously your own in return". The issues before the Conference on Disarmament were longstanding and were fundamental on the international agenda. Germany strongly appealed to all members of the Conference to undertake renewed efforts and to redouble their efforts in order to bring the Conference on Disarmament back on track to substantial work in order to fulfil the mandate given to it.

PETKO DRAGANOV (Bulgaria) said international arms control and disarmament were a priority in terms of Bulgaria's national security doctrine and Bulgaria had vested interest in the work of the Conference of Disarmament. In August 2000, when he presided over the Conference on Disarmament, he said members back then realized that the political and strategic environment of the work of the Conference on Disarmament had changed and that there was a need for a more determined political and diplomatic effort to agree on advancing the Conference's goals. This objective had not been out of the reach of the Conference on Disarmament then, but it seemed it required more patience and persistence. Today, five years later, the Conference on Disarmament was facing a similar situation. The members of the Conference should try harder to be contributors to the formulation of their governments' policies and they needed to exert every effort to move on.

KJETIL PAULSEN (Norway) recalled that on 26 July, a letter from the Norwegian Minister of Foreign Affairs, in which he called for stronger international commitments in the field of non-proliferation and nuclear disarmament, was submitted to the United Nations General Assembly President, Mr. Jean Ping. Attached to the letter was a declaration concerning these issues approved by the foreign ministers of Australia, Chile, Indonesia, Romania, South Africa and the United Kingdom as well as Norway. These ministers also submitted a joint proposal for the draft Outcome Document of the United Nations Summit in September. The reactions and comments received so far showed that the initiative was gathering broad support, from all regional groups. This was very promising for the common efforts of the members of the Conference on Disarmament to halt the proliferation of nuclear weapons and to achieve further nuclear disarmament, while at the same time fully respecting the right to peaceful use of nuclear energy within the framework of the Non-Proliferation Treaty.

JUAN CARLOS FAIDUTTI ESTRADA (Ecuador) said within the objective to create a safer and more stable world, Ecuador's foreign policy had been devised while attaching increasing importance to issues of international peace and security, including through efforts in the areas of the non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, arms control and the strengthening dialogue sensitive to international security. With regard to disarmament, Ecuador had reiterated its full support to a multilateral disarmament system that found itself manifested in the trust that General Assembly resolutions should be fully respected. The Andean countries had committed themselves to further these goals by setting up a regional nuclear free zone agreement. There was increasing concern over the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and over the threat that nuclear weapons might fall into the hands of terrorists. Joint coordinated action was needed to strengthen the multilateral disarmament mechanisms. There had been many proposals coming from Latin American nations presented to the Conference on Disarmament to enable it to continue its work. Ecuador believed it was necessary for Member States to display clear evidence of political will and refreshed determination.
KALMAN PETOCZ (Slovakia) said the Conference on Disarmament was not an ordinary United Nations body, it was a semi-autonomous organ created by a special session of the United Nations General Assembly which successfully preserved the good diplomatic traditions of maintaining very good contact between delegations outside the Conference and dealt with issues that were very important from the point of view of national security interests and national priorities of its members. There were no national priorities of Slovakia in the Conference on Disarmament, meaning that it had no special agenda that would compete or interfere with the priorities of others. The priorities of Slovakia were identical with the primordial principles of the United Nations - to preserve peace and guarantee security in the world. Slovakia was ready to support each and every rational proposal or initiative that would bring the Conference on Disarmament closer to an agreement on how to restore the negotiating mood in the Conference on Disarmament that would contribute meaningfully to the above-mentioned goals. Slovakia was of the view that the best way out of the present situation in the Conference on Disarmament should be a comprehensive solution.

CARLO TREZZA (Italy) said Italy believed the Conference on Disarmament should remain the focal point of any development in the field of multilateral disarmament and expressed gratitude to the United Kingdom G8 Presidency for having presented the latest G8 position on issues which were of interest to the Conference on Disarmament. It was the belief of Italy that the lack of substantive results at the Seventh Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference made it even more imperative to make progress at the Conference on Disarmament especially in the nuclear field. Italy welcomed the debates on four core issues during the Norwegian Presidency as well as the "food for thought" non-paper. Italy also supported those delegations which advocated a longer term for each presidency and agreed that the onus for finding an agreement on a programme of work was a collective obligation that depended on the political will of members. Moreover, Italy had always believed that the Conference on Disarmament should be in tune with issues that were relevant to the current international security environment and in that connection expressed its satisfaction for the resumption of the Six Party talks last month on the Korean Peninsula. It was recalled that Italy was the first European Union and G7 Member State to establish diplomatic relations with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. Finally, Italy firmly believed that multilaterally agreed norms provided the basis for non-proliferation efforts.

JÜRG STREULI (Switzerland), speaking on behalf of Switzerland and France, said the delegations of Switzerland and France wanted to draw attention concerning the protection of critical infrastructures. International terrorism in all its forms had become a universal and strategic problem and, to that end, Switzerland and France were convinced that the protection of critical infrastructures required regional cooperation. It was recalled that it October 2003, the Geneva Centre for Policy and Security had organized a forum on the topic of coordinated protection for critical infrastructures and the results of the conference were published in 2004 in a report to be found on the website of the Centre – www.gcsp.ch. In October 2004, the Centre had organized an additional forum which demonstrated that domestic security had become a global concern. It was hoped that this subject would contribute to a substantial discussion in the Conference on Disarmament.

THOMAS CINKIN (United States), while making reference to the open-ended meeting on the prevention of an arms race in outer space scheduled for 16 August, said the United States delegation wished to note that there was no consensus decision by the Conference on Disarmament to hold, endorse or support this meeting in any manner, including by the Conference on Disarmament Secretariat staff.

ANTON VASILIEV (Russian Federation) recalled that on 16 August the Russian Federation would be holding an open-ended group meeting on the issue of the prevention of an armed race in outer space which would be based on the Russian-Chinese documents presented to the Conference on Disarmament on the issue.

For use of the information media; not an official record

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