CONFERENCE ON DISARMAMENT 2008 SESSION OPENS ON 23 JANUARY

The Conference on Disarmament, the world's sole multilateral forum for disarmament negotiations, will hold the first public plenary of its 2008 session on Wednesday, 23 January, at the Palais des Nations in Geneva, which will be addressed by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

The session will open under the presidency of Ambassador Samir Labidi of Tunisia and the opening meeting will also be addressed by the Foreign Minister of Tunisia, Abdelwaheb Abdallah. The presidency of the Conference rotates amongst its Member States according to the English alphabetical order; each President holds office for four working weeks. During 2008, the presidency of the Conference will also be held by Turkey, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, the United States and Venezuela. The three parts of the 2008 session of the Conference will be held from 21 January to 28 March for the first part; 12 May to 27 June for the second part; and 28 July to 12 September for the third part.

In accordance with its rules of procedure, the Conference "shall adopt its agenda for the year at the beginning of the session. In doing so, the Conference shall take into account the recommendations made to it by the UN General Assembly, the proposals by its Members, and decisions of the Conference."

In 2007, the Conference was not able to reach agreement on a programme of work and so was unable to start work on substantive issues. However, in an effort to move forward, the 2007 Presidents of the Conference appointed Coordinators for agenda items 1 to 7 and decided on the organizational framework of the Conference, without prejudice to any future decisions of the Conference on its programme of work. The Coordinators, under the authority of the 2007 Presidents, chaired informal meetings on agenda items 1 to 7 which are cessation of a nuclear arms race and nuclear disarmament; prevention of nuclear war; prevention of an arms race in outer space; effective international arrangements to assure non-nuclear weapon States against the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons; new types of weapons of mass destruction and new systems of such weapons; radiological weapons; comprehensive programme of disarmament; and transparency in armaments.

A Presidential Draft Decision (CD/2007/L.1**) was submitted as a basis for an agreement to begin substantive work in the Conference, and successive Presidents conducted intensive consultations with a view to reaching agreement on it. Presidential draft decision CD/2007/L.1** calls for the appointment of four Coordinators to preside over substantive discussions on the issues of nuclear disarmament; prevention of an arms race in outer space; and negative security assurances; and to preside over negotiations on a treaty banning the production of fissile material for nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices. The Complementary Presidential Statement, CD/2007/CRP.5*, reflects an understanding of the Conference on the implementation of the Presidential decision, and the third text CD/2007/CRP.6* is a short decision stating that when the Conference adopts the Presidential decision, it will be guided by the Presidential statement in its implementation.


The 2007 annual report says that building on the increased level and focus of its activities throughout 2007 and with a view to early commencement of substantive work during its 2008 session, the Conference requested the current President and the incoming President to conduct consultations during the intersessional period.

On 14 June 2007, the Conference heard a message from Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in which he urged the Conference to overcome its differences and adopt Presidential draft decision CD/2007/L.1. In an earlier message on 22 January, read out by Sergei Ordzhonikidze, the Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva and the Secretary-General of the Conference on Disarmament, Secretary-General Ban had expressed his hope that the Conference would demonstrate the political resolve necessary to take the difficult measures necessary.

The Conference on Disarmament works by consensus and cannot undertake new work without the agreement of all its Member States.


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

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