CONFERENCE ON DISARMAMENT HEARS ADDRESS BY DEPUTY MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS OF ITALY

Vincenzo Scotti, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Italy, addressed the Conference on Disarmament this afternoon, saying the priority this year would inevitably be the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference. “Failure is not an option”, he said. “It is time to renew the grand bargain representing the core of the Treaty.”

Mr. Scotti defined three issues likely to determine the outcome of the NPT Review Conference: practical nuclear disarmament steps; mechanisms to take forward the objectives of the 1995 resolution on the Middle East; and the development of mechanisms to strengthen the Treaty, in order to deal more effectively with issues related to compliance, withdrawal and implementation. New ideas and initiatives would be needed, but there were also two important international arrangements that would perfectly complement the non-proliferation regime. The first was the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, and Italy once again urged those States that had not yet signed or ratified it to reassess their position.

The second was the Fissile Material Cut-Off Treaty (FMCT), whose negotiation in the Conference on Disarmament was long overdue, Mr. Scotti felt. An FMCT would drain away the supply of the main components of nuclear warheads and would make nuclear disarmament irreversible. Italy's view was that such a treaty needed credible provisions on verification, an assessment that was widely shared within the Conference. Italy was well aware that other serious matters had to be tackled during the negotiations of a successful FMCT, not least among them, the issue of stockpiles. Italy believed, however, that that question should more appropriately be dealt with during negotiations, rather than have it appear as a precondition for them. In that context, Italy made a strong appeal for the adoption of a programme of work in the Conference in line with the one adopted last year in decision CD/1864.

Also speaking at the meeting was Syria, which underscored the need for a nuclear-weapon-free zone in the Middle East. One country in the region with nuclear weapons in its arsenal continued to reject all peace initiatives while threatening its neighbours with a full-fledged war that would transform the region “into the most dangerous area in the world since the end of the Second World War”. On the issue of getting the Conference back to work, Syria noted that decision CD/1864 had not addressed the concerns of all Conference members, because it did not give clear answers to the issues of verification mechanisms or existing stocks. The absence of any concrete treatment of the other three core issues – nuclear disarmament, negative security assurances and prevention of an arms race in outer space – was also regretted. Cloning document CD/1864, which did not deal today with the concerns of all States, would not acquire consensus, Syria said. They could partially build on CD/1864, but they needed to introduce new necessary elements to improve it.

At the end of the meeting, Ambassador Abdul Hannan of Bangladesh, President of the Conference, said that they had planned to hold an informal meeting this afternoon following the public plenary to continue discussions on the development of a programme of work for the 2010 session. However, in view of the ongoing presidential consultations with the regional coordinators, begun this morning, and the need for the regional groups to have some time to convey the substance of those discussions to their delegations, he proposed that the informal consultations would therefore be held next Thursday instead of this afternoon.

Also at today's meeting, the Conference agreed to the request of Iceland to join the work of the Conference for its 2010 session as an Observer.

The next public plenary of the Conference will be held on Thursday, 11 February at 10 a.m.

Statements

VINCENZO SCOTTI, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Italy, said Italy welcomed recent progress in the field of nuclear disarmament, including the negotiations between the United States and the Russian Federation for a new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), and the United States initiative to host the first Summit on Nuclear Security. The threat of nuclear terrorism required dedicated action by the international community, individual States, the industry and other actors. They needed to acknowledge the urgency to protect vulnerable nuclear material from criminals and to help all countries achieve that goal. In the multilateral arena, where the role of the Conference on Disarmament was paramount, the priority this year would inevitably also be the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference. After the stalemate in 2005, Italy hoped that the growing world awareness on non-proliferation issues would create the right "humus" for the success of the conference. Italy would act, together with its European Union partners, to make sure that the Review Conference results would reflect in an adequate manner the new international climate on non-proliferation and disarmament issues. In order to achieve success at the Review Conference, they had to set realistic goals of equal priority in all three pillars: non-proliferation, disarmament and the peaceful uses of nuclear energy. Failure was not an option. The NPT remained the cornerstone of all their nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament endeavours; if they failed to achieve results in New York in May there was a heightened risk that the NPT regime would be submitted to further erosion and they could also face an increase in proliferation activities. Therefore it was time to renew the "grand bargain" representing the core of the Treaty. Such a goal could be reached only by promoting mutual confidence among all members, more specifically among Western and Non-Aligned Movement countries.

Three issues would likely determine the outcome of the NPT Review Conference: practical nuclear disarmament steps; mechanisms to take forward the objectives of the 1995 resolution on the Middle East; and the development of mechanisms to strengthen the Treaty, in order to deal more effectively with issues related to compliance, withdrawal and implementation. All three issues were very complex, Mr. Scotti admitted. New ideas and initiatives would be needed. There were also two important international arrangements that would perfectly complement the non-proliferation regime. The first was the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), which had not yet entered into force owing to the insufficient number of ratifications. Italy had ratified the CTBT and it once again urged those States that had not yet signed or ratified it to reassess their position. The second was the Fissile Material Cut-Off Treaty (FMCT). Italy felt that negotiations in the Conference on Disarmament were long overdue. By stopping, through appropriate safeguards, all production of weapons-grade fissile material and encouraging the conversion of their manufacturing plants to civil use, an FMCT would drain away the supply of the main components of nuclear warheads. Moreover, such a treaty would make nuclear disarmament irreversible. However, a viable FMCT needed reliable safeguards to prevent illegal diversions of fissile material, or use of civil installations for military purposes. Italy's view was that such a treaty needed credible provisions on verification. That assessment was widely shared within the Conference on Disarmament. Italy was well aware that other serious matters had to be tackled during the negotiations of a successful FMCT, not least among them, the issue of stockpiles. Italy believed that that question should more appropriately be dealt with during negotiations, rather than have it appear as a precondition for them. Any State should feel free to raise questions it considered priority national security concerns. However, in order to effectively start the negotiating process – and address, in that framework, all legitimate national security concerns – the Conference urgently needed to approve a clear programme of work. In that connection, Italy made a strong appeal for the adoption of a programme of work in line with the one adopted last year in decision CD/1864.

Mr. Scotti said he could not conclude without mentioning the important work carried out in the field of conventional weapons. They were all called upon to reinforce rules on the safety of non-combatants and on the rescue and treatment of civilian victims of warfare. Italy would actively support in every way current efforts to reach a wider-ranging, legally binding agreement on cluster munitions in the framework of the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons, acceptable to those countries which, for different reasons, were not able to sign the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

FAYSAL KHABBAZ HAMOUI (Syria) said Syria had been pleased and encouraged by the statement made by the Foreign Minister of Bangladesh to the Conference (on 26 January), and the statement delivered today by Italy's Deputy Foreign Minister, especially when they emphasized the importance of the four core issues of the Conference and the need to establish a nuclear-weapon-free zone in the Middle East, as well as the need to address all legitimate national security concerns of Member States. Syria deeply regretted that that region had not yet received serious international attention, despite the fact that there was only one country in the region that owned advanced nuclear military capabilities and weapons outside the framework of any international control. Nuclear disarmament remained a priority for Syria; as long as nuclear weapons existed in the arsenal of one country in the Middle East, the risk of use or threat of use would remain present. That country continued to reject all peace initiatives while threatening its neighbours with a full-fledged war that would transform the region into the most dangerous area in the world since the end of the Second World War. Syria reaffirmed, once again, its commitment to its international obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and called on the international community to urge all parties in the Middle East to join the NPT.

Turning to issues before the Conference, Mr. Khabbaz Hamoui noted that decision CD/1864 (on a programme of work for 2009) had been a compromise text, but underscored that it had not addressed the concerns of all Conference members, because it did not give clear answers to the issues of verification mechanisms or existing stocks. Syria also regretted the absence of any concrete treatment of the other three core issues – nuclear disarmament, negative security assurances and prevention of an arms race in outer space – and supported all constructive proposals to deal with those very important issues with a view to achieving legally binding instruments. Syria believed that, for 2010, they should engage in a constructive dialogue to adopt a programme of work for the 2010 session, based on mutual compromise and in a spirit of understanding. Cloning document CD/1864, which did not deal today with the concerns of all States, would not acquire consensus. They could partially build on CD/1864, but they needed to introduce new necessary elements to improve it.


For use of information media; not an official record

DC10/006E