CONFERENCE ON DISARMAMENT HEARS FROM UKRAINIAN FOREIGN MINISTER
Kostyantyn Gryshchenko, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, this morning addressed the Conference on Disarmament, saying that Ukraine considered the Conference to be one of the world’s most important multilateral forums and it was crucially important to achieve consensus on the 2010 Programme of Work as soon as possible.
Mr. Gryshchenko said he had the honour to represent a nation that had made an unprecedented step 16 years ago and had voluntarily renounced its nuclear arsenal, which had been the third largest in the world. Ukraine had consistently emphasized the importance of addressing disarmament and non-proliferation challenges. Recent events gave hope that other States shared this approach, such as the Washington Nuclear Security Summit, the signing of the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty between the United States and Russia and the 2010 Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference. Ukraine had also recently committed to get rid of all the stocks of highly enriched uranium.
Ukraine considered the Conference on Disarmament as one of the world’s most important multilateral forums. It was crucially important to achieve consensus on the 2010 Programme of Work as soon as possible. The elimination of nuclear weapons in their entirety was the only guarantee that they would never be used, said Mr. Gryshchenko. But this required a set of practical steps. One of them was to put an end to the production of fissile materials. Thus, the Fissile Material Cut-Off Treaty would be a tremendous step towards global nuclear disarmament and would also close a number of windows of opportunities for terrorists to obtain nuclear materials. Ukraine therefore deeply regretted the continuing deadlock over the resumption of the Conference’s activities. Another step towards nuclear disarmament would be universalizing the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.
It went without saying that States must not use their nuclear weapons or threaten to use them against non-nuclear weapon States. A practical tool for ensuring this was to further endorse and develop negative security assurances and therefore, the assurance outlined in United Nations Security Council Resolution 984 should be reaffirmed in a relevant multilateral legally binding document, said Mr. Gryshchenko. Further, the Non-Proliferation Treaty was the cornerstone of the global nuclear non-proliferation regime. Ukraine welcomed the outcomes of the 2010 Review Conference. For the first time, the final document of the Review Conference had managed to reach consensus on the final document and had addressed the issue of the Treaty’s withdrawal provisions. The final document was of crucial importance for strengthening universal security architecture. Further, Ukraine, as an active player of outer space, adhered to the relevant principles of international law and ensured full transparency of their actions. Ukraine also welcomed Russia and China’s joint initiative for a draft Treaty on the Prevention of the Placement of Weapons in Outer Space, the Threat or Use of Force against Outer Space Objects.
Today’s meeting was the last under the Belgian Presidency. In his final remarks to the Conference, Alex Van Meeuwen, President of the Conference on Disarmament, said that he was happy to note that finally the Conference had, after intensive discussions, been able to draw up a detailed schedule of activities, which should allow it to continue its work in a positive and constructive frame of mind. The success achieved in the 2010 Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference had doubtlessly contributed to this outcome. The Review Conference’s calls to start negotiations on a Fissile Material Cut-Off Treaty should not remain a dead letter, as well as the invitation to hold a high-level meeting on the Conference on Disarmament. This could also act as an opportunity to take a close look, in a creative mindset, at a certain number of practices and for the interpretation of rules of procedures that remained blurry.
Also speaking this morning in a final statement to the Conference was Hilde Skorpen, Deputy Permanent Representative of Norway, who said that the state of the Conference on Disarmament was still the same today as the day she had arrived in 2006. Recent events had showed that stockpiles would remain an obstacle for future negotiations. The adoption of a programme of work had become the main area of negotiations in the Conference, when it should rather discuss more substantial issues. She had also never understood why the Fissile Material Cut-Off Treaty item was the only issue considered ripe for negotiations. Norway considered the total elimination of nuclear weapons as the most important goal. The humanitarian imperative should be at the centre of the Conference’s efforts. The Conference should also revisit the practice of regional groups as there was no reference to them in the Rules of Procedures. She would not question their existence if these made sense but the way they functioned was detrimental to the Conference in her opinion. It stifled debates and prevented issues to be discussed directly in the Conference.
The next plenary meeting of the Conference on Disarmament will take place on Tuesday, 15 June, when it will hear from the Brazilian Minister for Foreign Affairs.
For use of information media; not an official record
DC10/024E