CONFERENCE ON DISARMAMENT HOLDS BRIEF PUBLIC PLENARY, HEARS FROM ITS PRESIDENT AND THE REPUBLIC OF KOREA

The Conference on Disarmament this morning held a brief public plenary, hearing from its President and from the Republic of Korea before continuing its deliberations on its annual report in an informal plenary.

Beliz Celasin Rende, Chargé d’Affaires a.i., Permanent Mission of Turkey to the United Nations Office at Geneva and President of the Conference on Disarmament,
said that following the public plenary, they would move to an informal plenary to continue work on the annual report. The document CD/WP610 was now available in all official languages and had been distributed to delegations.

The Republic of Korea wished the President success in producing a consensus report, which was not an easy task, and thanked the coordinators of the five subsidiary bodies for drafting and finalizing their reports. Regarding the report of the Conference on Disarmament, the Republic of Korea had made clear its position during the bilateral consultations and other occasions. As they all agreed, it was most important for the Conference to produce a consensus report of its work, in order not to give a wrong message to the international community. The Republic of Korea was also of the view that the draft report provided a solid basis which could be worked on for a consensus report. The Republic of Korea reiterated that the report should be fact-based, balanced and objective, as in previous years. During the formal and informal consultations, the Conference had made good progress, except for a few elements related to the Syrian Presidency and the reports of the subsidiary bodies. On the Syrian Presidency, the Republic of Korea fully shared the concerns raised by a number of Member States considering the serious developments in the country this year. Considering the extraordinary circumstances that had been faced this year, the Republic of Korea was of the view that the concerns raised by many during the session needed to be duly reflected in the report in one way or another. It hoped that they could find a language of compromise in order to find consensus. The Republic of Korea urged the President to make a further last ditch effort and use her good offices during the remaining days in order to work out a consensus language. It also looked forward to having a good result on the reports of the subsidiary bodies.


The Conference on Disarmament will hold the next public plenary on Tuesday, 4 September at 10 a.m. The third and last part of the Conference will conclude on Friday, 14 September.


For use of the information media; not an official record

DC/18/040E