CONFERENCE ON DISARMAMENT HEARS FROM POLAND AND BRAZIL, HOLDS INFORMAL TALKS ON THE PRESIDENT’S PROPOSAL

The Conference on Disarmament this morning heard statements by Poland and Brazil and held informal talks on the non-paper presented by the President of the Conference on a draft programme of work.

At the beginning of the meeting, Ambassador Rachid Belbaki of Algeria, President of the Conference on Disarmament, welcomed the new representative of Brazil. The Conference then approved a request by Armenia to participate in the 2020 session of the Conference as an observer. The President said once the list of speakers had been exhausted, it was his intention to move into an informal setting to permit an exchange of views on the package, as contained in the email circulated yesterday by the secretariat. After this informal meeting, they would come back into formal plenary to give the floor to those delegations who requested it.

Poland thanked the President for presenting two consecutive non-papers concerning the programme of work of the Conference. Poland noted that there were two important anniversaries in 2020: 75 years of the United Nations Organization and the fiftieth anniversary of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. Those tremendous achievements of the international community should be preserved and strengthened. Poland believed that the Conference would be able to return to substantial and topical debate this year, most likely by establishing subsidiary bodies. The President’s non-paper of the previous day was very instrumental in this context. Finally, Poland believed that by addressing the organizational aspects of the Conference, the deliberations would be more comprehensive and would better serve the future goal of commencing negotiations. Poland echoed the position of the European Union on the right of Cyprus to obtain observer status to the Conference.

Brazil reiterated its full and transparent commitment to disarmament, non-proliferation, nuclear disarmament and peace for all. Disarmament, more than ever before, should be a political priority today. Historically, non-disarmament had not led to non-proliferation, on the contrary it had promoted proliferation. Since the entry into force of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, the number of nuclear weapon States had almost doubled. Disarmament was therefore urgent, not only for the sake of disarmament itself but for an effective non-proliferation. Brazil hoped that the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons Review Conference in 2020 would be an opportunity to fill the gaps in this treaty. It also hoped that the Conference could make progress on some items on its agenda, notably on the prevention of an arms race in space and on a fissile material cut-off treaty.

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

The next plenary of the Conference on Disarmament will take place at 10 a.m. on Thursday, 6 February.


For use of the information media; not an official record


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