CONFERENCE ON DISARMAMENT POSTPONES DECISION ON IMPLEMENTATION OF ITS PROGRAMME OF WORK FOR 2009

This morning the Conference on Disarmament decided to postpone till Monday morning action on draft decision CD/1870/Rev.1, containing details of a programme of work and schedule of activities for the remainder of the Conference’s 2009 session, in view of the need for Pakistan to receive instructions from its capital.

Australian Ambassador, Caroline Millar, President of the Conference on Disarmament, said that yesterday she had presented the revised draft decision (CD/1870/Rev.1) on the appointment of Working Group Chairs and Special Coordinators, and containing a balanced schedule of activities for the remainder of 2009, providing for three weeks of substantive work and three weeks for writing the report. The six Presidents and many delegations would have liked to have had more time for substantive work, but they had agreed to the “3+3” formula in the spirit of compromise.

Several delegations had also asked for the fourth paragraph of the draft complementary Presidential statement, reflecting an understanding of the Conference on Disarmament on the implementation of CD/1864, to be deleted, which referred to the need for consultations by the President of the Conference on the programme of work for the remainder of 2009 and by the incoming President for 2010, in advance of next year’s session. That text had been used previously, and would appear uncontroversial, but, again in the spirit of compromise, she had agreed to delete that paragraph.

As she felt that the concerns of all delegations had been met, she asked if any delegations would object to draft decision CD/1870/Rev.1 being put to the floor for adoption.

Ambassador Zamir Akram of Pakistan noted that document CD/1870 and the draft presidential statement had been circulated on Tuesday, and that yesterday they had received copies of draft decision CD/1870/Rev.1, with a revised schedule of activities. Pakistan had sent those documents to its capital, and they were being reviewed in what was unfortunately a time-consuming process. As soon as they had received instructions they would share them with the Conference so that a consensus could be achieved. In view of that, Pakistan was not yet ready to join in the consensus.

As was known, Pakistan had engaged actively in the process of achieving a substantive programme of work. Pakistan's positions on substance and procedure were well known. For Pakistan, those two issues were linked, and both had important ramifications. National security considerations were of paramount importance for Pakistan.

Ms. Millar hoped that the consultations would not be long. She proposed that the Conference reconvene on Monday, and hoped that a decision would be taken then. If they did, the timetable contained in the revised draft document would stand. If not, it would once again have to be changed, which would not be easy at this stage.


Document CD/1864 is the adopted programme of work for the Conference on Disarmament's 2009 session. Draft decision CD/1870/Rev.1, on the implementation of CD/1864, outlines the conduct of work and decision-making under the Conference Working Groups and Special Coordinators and the rotation and equitable geographic representation of office bearers. The draft decision also includes a list of proposed names for the office bearers of the different Working Groups and Special Coordinators. The draft further includes a timetable of activities for the Working Groups and Special Coordinators, up to the end of the 2009 session.


The next meeting of the Conference on Disarmament will be held on Monday, 10 August 2009 at 10 a.m.



For use of the information media; not an official record


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