CONFERENCE ON DISARMAMENT HEARS STATEMENTS FROM MALAYSIA AND THE UNITED KINGDOM

The Conference on Disarmament this morning heard two statements from Malaysia, calling on the Conference to move forward towards substantive work, and the United Kingdom, addressing the issue of nuclear disarmament.

Malaysia said that the members of the Conference had to strengthen their resolve and work towards reinvigorating the multilateral process in pursuing the aims of bringing the Conference back to substantive work. This inability to forge a compromise was a setback in spite of the professed common goals of all members. Malaysia had demonstrated its flexibility and readiness to work closely with the members of the Conference by joining the momentum behind CD/1840 and called upon others to also demonstrate such flexibility. Malaysia also called upon the Conference to open its doors and engage with non-governmental organizations and civil society as they might bring the greatly needed impetus that the Conference needed to move forward.

The United Kingdom said that yesterday had been a very busy day for the United Kingdom’s Minstry of Foreign Affairs as the Ministry had launched a public document entitled “Lifting the Nuclear Shadow”. It was aimed at the public, had straight talking and did not use diplomatic talking. It outlined some conditions that needed to be made to achieve progress. The Foreign Office yesterday had also given a much more detailed presentation on the topic to a committee of the House of Commons; this report would also soon be available on the House of Commons’ website.

Draft decision CD/1840, to which Malaysia referred was submitted by the 2008 Presidents of the Conference on 13 March 2008, and contains a draft programme of work. According to draft decision CD/1840 by the 2008 Presidents of the Conference, the Conference would appoint Coordinators to preside over substantive discussions three of four core issues identified by the Conference: nuclear disarmament and the prevention of nuclear war; prevention of an arms race in outer space; and negative security assurances for non-nuclear weapon States. On the fourth item, a Coordinator would be appointed to preside over negotiations, without any preconditions, on a non-discriminatory and multilateral treaty banning the production of fissile material for nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices, thus "providing all delegations with the opportunity to actively pursue their respective positions and priorities, and to submit proposals on any issue they deem relevant in the course of negotiations".

The next public meeting of the Conference on Disarmament will be on Thursday, 12 February at 10 a.m. Also next week, the Conference is scheduled to start its informal consultations under the guidance of the appointed Coordinators, which the 2009 presidency of the Conference appointed on Tuesday, 3 February.


Statements

OTHMAN HASHIM (Malaysia) congratulated the President of the Conference on the assumption of his presidency. It was an honour to see a fellow ASEAN country presiding over the work of the Conference. He assured him and his fellow 2009 Presidents of the cooperation and support of Malaysia to move the Conference forward. He also congratulated the Ambassadors who had been appointed to serve as Coordinators of the seven agenda items. It had been more than ten years since the last time that the Conference on Disarmament had engaged in substantive work. The difficulty they faced in realizing the role of the Conference and fulfilling its agenda had only come back to haunt them, with newly emerging security threats as was seen these recent years. “The world today is no safer than that envisaged by our predecessors,” he said. They had to strengthen their resolve and work towards reinvigorating the multilateral process in pursuing the aims of bringing the Conference back to substantive work.

Malaysia was greatly appreciative of the developmental and continuing role that the P6 mechanism had played since its establishment, said Mr. Hashim. They were encouraged by the intensive consultations. Unfortunately, despite all this, the Conference had not been able to reach consensus on a programme of work. This inability to forge a compromise was a setback in spite of the professed common goals of all members of this Conference. Malaysia urged that continued efforts be made to accommodate the concerns to arrive at a consensus. The legitimate concerns of Member States should be given the serious consideration they deserved.

Document CD/1840 represented a fusion of the 2007 Presidents Proposal. Malaysia was of the view that this document fell short of their expectations to address other core issues in a balanced and comprehensive manner. It highlighted that the issue of Fissile Material Cut-Off Treaty was “ripe” for negotiations. Malaysia had nonetheless demonstrated its flexibility and readiness to work closely with the members of the Conference by joining the momentum behind CD/1840 and called upon others to also demonstrate such flexibility, said Mr. Hashim.

Whilst nuclear disarmament remained their highest priority and pending negotiations on a nuclear weapons convention, the Fissile Material Cut-Off Treaty, similar to the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, remained one of the next essential steps towards preventing the proliferation of nuclear material, underscored Mr. Hashim. Last year, his country had formally joined the group of the lead sponsors of the resolution “decreasing the operational readiness of nuclear weapons systems. They had joined the group with the conviction that such an initiative would contribute incrementally to the process of non-proliferation and disarmament. De-alerting represented a renewed effort and it would also further promote the implementation of negotiated arms control treaties. Nuclear disarmament was a challenge the Conference had been set to address and it had to be creative, innovative and able of adapting to a dynamic and ever-changing global environment.

Ms. Hashim also called upon the Conference to open its doors and engage with non-governmental organizations and civil society. The disarmament community had benefited a lot through the engagement with them, as evident in the case of landmines, among others. It might be the greatly needed impetus that the Conference needed to move forward.

JOHN DUNCAN (United Kingdom) said that yesterday had been a very busy day for the United Kingdom’s Minster of Foreign Affairs as the Ministry had launched a public document entitled “Lifting the Nuclear Shadow”. This document was available on the United Kingdom’s Foreign Office website. It was aimed at the public, had straight talking and did not use diplomatic talking. It addressed the issue of the abolition of nuclear weapons as well as the role of the European Union, the International Atomic Energy Agency and the United Nations in this regard. It also talked about the need for institutional reforms. The views expressed in this document should be no surprise, as the United Kingdom’s position with regard to nuclear disarmament was known. It outlined some conditions that needed to be made to achieve progress. The Foreign Office yesterday had also given a much more detailed presentation on the topic to a committee of the House of Commons; this report would also soon be available on the House of Commons’ website.


For use of the information media; not an official record

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