ACTING PRESIDENT OF CONFERENCE ON DISARMAMENT EXPRESSES OPTIMISM ON OUTCOME OF CONSULTATIONS

The Conference on Disarmament this morning held a brief public plenary before meeting behind closed doors to discuss its draft annual report which will be presented to the General Assembly after the Conference’s 2005 session concludes on 23 September.

The Conference observed a minute of silence in honour of Nobel Peace Laureate Joseph Rotblat who passed away last week . The Acting President of the Conference, Felix Calderon of Peru, said Mr. Rotblat had been a distinguished scientist and physicist as well as a veteran disarmament campaigner. He had went from working at the beginning of the programme aimed at producing the nuclear bomb to becoming one of the founders of the Pugwash Conference on Science and World Affairs where he devoted the rest of his days to championing the principle of science for peace and promoting peace among peoples.

Mr. Calderon said that with respect to the consultations undertaken by the President in an endeavour to find a solution on the basis of an informal document which had been submitted to the regional groups, there had quite naturally been reactions of varying degrees to it. He wanted to be positive, as delegations were aware of the prerogative of the President to ensure that no effort was spared to break through the stalemate in the Conference. In that spirit and in order to break the stalemate, the President had sent the informal document to the Members and now he wished to refer to the thinking underlying it. The President understood that it was the prerogative of each delegation to reflect its national position. In the almost nine years of untiring efforts, it was possible to identify four common elements which had been identified by all during his consultations. He wished to highlight this as edifying and giving the Conference grounds for optimism. He could now say there was no reason to be pessimistic.

Mr. Calderon said the first common element referred to the spirit that the delegations shared that the Conference should continue negotiating. The second element related to the shared interest of all in breaking out of the present paralysis. The third element was that for a number of years, there had been on the tables of delegations criteria parameters and elements which made it possible to produce certain papers on the substantive issues of the programme of work, and these had been discussed formally and informally. This meant that the President's document included nothing new, rather it compiled the efforts of the past nine years in a kind of analysis, and it wished to strike the right balance. The fourth common element related to the wish and aspiration shared by all in working on the basis of consensus. With these four elements, the President was submitting this document.

Mr. Calderon said the Conference, after adjourning its public plenary, would meet in private to hold the first reading of the draft annual report of the Conference. He said another informal plenary would be held at 4 p.m. on Tuesday, 20 September, to exchange views on the possibilities that the delegations saw in the President's document. He said at least this way, Peru would have the satisfaction of knowing that it had spared no effort to ensure that the Conference could really get down to its work.

The last plenary of the 2005 session of the Conference on Disarmament will be held at 10 a.m. on Thursday, 22 September.

For use of the information media; not an official record

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