CONFERENCE ON DISARMAMENT TO HOLD FIRST PUBLIC PLENARY OF 2016 SESSION ON TUESDAY, 26 JANUARY

The Conference on Disarmament, the world's single multilateral forum for disarmament negotiations, will hold the first public plenary of its 2016 session on Tuesday, 26 January at the Palais des Nations in Geneva.

The session will open under the presidency of Nigeria. The presidency of the Conference rotates among its Member States according to the English alphabetical order, with each president holding office for four working weeks. Norway, Pakistan, Peru, Poland and the Republic of Korea will also hold the presidency during 2016. The three parts of the 2016 session of the Conference will take place from 25 January to 1 April for the first part; 16 May to 1 July for the second part; and 2 August to 16 September for the third part.

The first plenary meeting will start at 10 a.m. and will be attended by Kim Won-Soo, the High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, who will read out the statement of the United Nations Secretary-General to the Conference.

Michael Møller, the Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva, is the Secretary-General of the Conference on Disarmament and the personal representative of the United Nations Secretary-General to the Conference.

In accordance with art.27 of its rules of procedure, the Conference on Disarmament, shall adopt its agenda for the year at the beginning of each annual session. “In doing so, the Conference shall take into account the recommendations made to it by the United Nations General Assembly, the proposals presented by member States of the Conference, and the decisions of the Conference." The rules of procedure of the Conference also provide that, on the basis of its agenda, the Conference, “at the beginning of its annual session, shall establish its programme of work, which will include a schedule of its activities for that session, taking also into account the recommendations, proposals and decisions referred to in rule 27.”

In resolution A/RES/70/67, the General Assembly of the United Nations called upon the Conference on Disarmament to further intensify consultations and to explore possibilities for overcoming its ongoing deadlock of almost two decades by adopting and implementing a balanced and comprehensive programme of work at the earliest possible date during its 2016 session, bearing in mind the decision on the programme of work adopted by the Conference on 29 May 2009, as well as other relevant present, past and future proposals.

Member States of the Conference

The 65 members of the Conference are Algeria, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bangladesh, Belarus, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Cameroon, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Cuba, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ecuador, Egypt, Ethiopia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Malaysia, Mexico, Mongolia, Morocco, Myanmar, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Pakistan, Peru, Poland, Republic of Korea, Romania, Russian Federation, Senegal, Slovakia, Spain, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States, Venezuela, Viet Nam and Zimbabwe.


For use of the information media; not an official record

DC16/001E