CONFERENCE ON DISARMAMENT CONTINUES INFORMAL DISCUSSIONS ON NON-PAPER ON A PROGRAMME OF WORK, HEARS STATEMENT BY FRANCE

The Conference on Disarmament this morning heard a statement by France, and then held informal talks on the non-paper presented by the President of the Conference on a draft programme of work.

In his opening remarks, Ambassador Rachid Belbaki of Algeria, President of the Conference on Disarmament, said that after the list of speakers in the public plenary was concluded, the Conference would continue its informal talks on the revised non-paper on a draft programme of work. This morning, the delegations would exchange views on the package, specifically on the appointment of coordinators for subsidiary bodies, the appointment of a special coordinator and the timetable.

France took the floor during the public part of the meeting and spoke about the exercise in transparency held on 4 and 5 February in the context of the review of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. More than 70 States had participated in this event, during which France had presented its national report on the implementation of the treaty. Transparency had to include a form of dialogue between all stakeholders to remove misunderstandings, but it must also be accompanied by specific steps. France had thus extended the invitation to visit the installations for fissile material production for military purposes in Pierrelatte and Marcoule, which had already been dismantled. In fact, France was the only country in the world that had irreversibly dismantled its installations for the enrichment of uranium and plutonium for military purposes.

After the informal discussion, the President of the Conference briefly resumed the plenary and reassured the delegations that he and the five other Presidents of the 2020 session of the Conference would take their comments and suggestions into consideration.

The Conference on Disarmament will hold its next plenary on Tuesday, 11 February at 10 a.m

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