Director-General's remarks at the Plenary Meeting of the 2025 Session of the Conference on Disarmament

2025 Session of the Conference on Disarmament

Thursday, 30 January 2025 at 10.00 a.m.
Tempus, Palais des Nations

Mr. President, (Ambassador Bencini)
Excellencies,
Distinguished delegates,
Ladies and gentlemen,

It is a pleasure to address you at the beginning of the 2025 session of the Conference on Disarmament. Let me begin by wishing all of you a Happy New Year.

The Conference this year is meeting amidst increasing tensions and uncertainty. While the international situation continues to be alarming, moments like these only serve to underscore the importance of this body. Direct engagement on critical issues of disarmament and international security are needed now more than ever.

In this connection, I wish to commend all the Members of the Conference for the important achievements you made last year. I also commend the active and collaborate roles played by each of the Presidents of the 2024 session, which was an essential component of its successes.

The establishment of subsidiary bodies and the adoption of their reports provided a solid basis for the resumption and deepening of substantive work this year. It is my hope that the introduction of continuity to the work of the Conference will facilitate your collective efforts to commence negotiations on the priority items on your agenda.

This innovation in the methods of work of the Conference also advances the implementation of the Pact for the Future, which was adopted by Heads of State and Government in New York in September. In this connection, we should recall that in Action 26, Member States decided to revitalize the role of the United Nations in the field of disarmament. 

Your continuous efforts toward revitalizing the Conference on Disarmament demonstrate that real reforms can be implemented even prior to a fourth special session of the General Assembly devoted to disarmament. I hope that in the busy year ahead you continue to find the time to consider how you can further advance the improved and effective functioning of the Conference.

Excellencies,
Distinguished delegates,

In his address to the General Assembly on his priorities for 2025, the Secretary-General of the United Nations highlighted the key commitments in the Pact for the Future on disarmament and international security. This body has an opportunity to advance these commitments, directly or indirectly, including in the areas of nuclear disarmament, new strategies to ensure the non-use of any weapons of mass destruction and the prevention of an arms race in outer space, among other issues.

In this context, I urge Member States to build upon the solid foundation you aided last year and re-establish the subsidiary bodies as soon as possible. 

Together with my Secretariat, I remain fully committed to supporting all initiatives that advance the work of the CD and reinvigorate this vital forum. I wish you great success in your work this year. 

Thank you.