PRESIDENT OF CONFERENCE ON DISARMAMENT OPENS THIRD PART OF 2007 SESSION

Ambassador Jurg Streuli of Switzerland, the President of the Conference on Disarmament, this morning opened the third and last part of the 2007 session of the Conference and said that his consultations during the summer recess had shown no change in the position of delegations needing more time to decide on the Presidential draft decision and two other texts which could allow the Conference to resume its substantive work after years of inactivity.

The President said his consultations had shown that that the position of delegations had not changed, and that they were awaiting instructions in the days to come. He was sorry that he could not report anything more, and he could only repeat that time was passing. He noted that it had to be accepted as a fact that the closer the Conference came to a consensus, the longer and more complex the process became in Geneva and in capitals. The necessary time must be given for decisions to be taken. This should not condemn the Conference to inactivitiy in Geneva, but he also believed that the necessary steps had to be taken in the capitals.

Ambassador Strueli said that with the three documents before the delegations, the Conference had not been this close to consensus for a long time, and the alternative today was no longer between L.1 and an improved L.1, but between the present L.1 and nothing at all for a long time. Every Member State of the Conference should evaluate which was better for its security interests, a programme of work that was imperfect, or a Conference which returned to the years of legarthy and immobilization.

Outlining the work during the third part of the session, which will conclude on 14 September, the President said the first three weeks would discuss “progress identified”. The week of 20 August would evaluate the work done during those three weeks, and the last three weeks, from 27 August to 14 September, would discuss the adoption of the annual report of the Conference. This framework was flexible and could be adapted according to the progress made.

The three documents which the Conference has been discussing this session include a Presidential draft decision CD/2007/L.1 that 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 second text CD/2007/CRP.5 is a complementary Presidential statement reflecting 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 President said that for technical reasons, the three documents had been reissued and were now CD/2007/L.1**, CD/2007/CRP.5* and CD/2007/CPR.6* respectively. Their content was unchanged.

The next plenary of the Conference will be held on Tuesday, 7 August at 10 a.m. during which Ambassador Rogelio Pfirter, Director-General of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, will address the Conference.


For use of the information media; not an official record


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