CONFERENCE ON DISARMAMENT HEARS STATEMENTS FROM INDIA
AND OUTGOING TURKISH PRESIDENT

The Conference on Disarmament this morning heard a statement from Ambassador Hamid Ali Rao of India, emphasizing that the reports of Coordinators represented only their own personal views, and were not official documents, and from Ambassador Ahmed Üzümcü of Turkey, outgoing President of the Conference, who gave thanks to his colleagues.

Ambassador Rao conveyed India's appreciation for the update that had been provided by the Coordinators in the framework of the informal consultations, and also for the Coordinators themselves, for having taken on the onerous responsibility of conducting consultations on the seven agenda items. However, the reports prepared by the Coordinators were only presented on the personal responsibility of the Coordinators themselves, and therefore did not necessarily accurately reflect the positions of all delegations. India's position with regard to the reports of the Coordinators was that they were unofficial documents and could not be cited as substantive positions of delegations in the context of discussion on those agenda items. Without prejudice to India's position in future negotiations, India also wished to renew its commitment to the adoption of a programme of work with a view to undertaking substantive work in the Conference.

Ambassador Üzümcü, the outgoing Conference President, expressed his pleasure and the honour he had had to preside over the Conference for these four weeks, and was pleased to have chaired plenary meetings where important declarations had been made by a number of high-level dignitaries. He looked forward to pursuing the joint efforts of the six Presidents for 2008. He thanked the Secretary-General of the Conference, Sergei Ordzhonikidze, the Conference secretariat, and the delegations for their support. The Conference on Disarmament was the world’s single multilateral disarmament negotiating body, and Mr. Üzümcü was confident that it would remain so.

The next plenary of the Conference will be held at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, 18 March, under the Presidency of Ukraine.


For use of information media; not an official record

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