CONFERENCE ON DISARMAMENT WELCOMES KASSYM-JOMART TOKAYEV AS ITS NEW SECRETARY-GENERAL

The Conference on Disarmament held a plenary meeting this morning in which it welcomed Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, the new Secretary-General of the Conference on Disarmament and Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva.

In his first address to the Conference Mr. Tokayev said that it was a great pleasure to address this distinguished body in his new function as Secretary-General on the Conference on Disarmament. He was grateful for their support of his nomination and he stood ready to support the membership in its activities. He had the honour of addressing the Conference nine years ago and at that time he stated that it was imperative to commence work in parallel on various issues, otherwise the Conference on Disarmament would lose credibility and they would have to seek alternative ways of solving the relevant problems. Since that time not much had evolved. They had seen a number of draft proposals to commence substantive work, but unfortunately none of them had led to a way out of the impasse they currently faced.

Mr. Tokayev went on to say that there was an obvious disagreement on how the body should proceed in the future, and calls were being heard to take issues outside of the Conference. While this could be a way to advance some issues, such an approach would seriously affect the Conference on Disarmament and make the body irrelevant. The General Assembly would discuss this issue in July and also in September and they had to be realists and see the truth regardless of whether it brought pleasure or trouble. If this year ended without a programme of work the future of the body would be very complicated. It was against this sobering backdrop that Mr. Tokayev said he assumed his duties as the Secretary-General of the Conference on Disarmament. He was more optimistic than pessimistic and he looked forward to their collective wisdom and their diplomatic creativity. It was time to look at disarmament issues in the global political context of global security. The recent editorial by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was an eloquent call to arms for the Conference to overcome its differences, including by holding a high level meeting. His proposals needed to be taken seriously and considered a platform for starting substantive work.

All the delegations who took the floor welcomed the new Secretary-General and said that Mr. Tokayev’s qualifications, experience, diplomatic skills, and remarkable multilateral career would be of significant value in supporting the work of the Conference. His appointment was an inspired one and he brought with him a wealth of experience as Kazakhstan’s former Prime Minister, Senate Chairman and Foreign Minister. He had a deep understanding and appreciation of the Conference on Disarmament and disarmament affairs, and would certainly bring a renewed vigour to the proceedings. Mr. Tokayev was a staunch advocate of global nuclear disarmament and he was personally engaged in the process of Kazakhstan’s accession to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, as well as the establishment of the Central Asian nuclear weapons free zone. Mr. Tokayev also signed the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty on behalf of the Government of Kazakhstan in 1996. Speakers firmly believed that his diplomatic background and impressive political experience would enable him to fulfil all expectations.

Speakers reaffirmed that nuclear disarmament remained their highest priority and reiterated their full readiness to start negotiations on a phased programme for the complete elimination of nuclear weapons with a specified timeframe. For many years they had witnessed continuous efforts to overcome the stalemate in the Conference on Disarmament and speakers stressed that the Conference continued to be unique in that it was the sole multilateral disarmament negotiating body. Delegates said they believed that with the sustained engagement and leadership of Mr. Tokayev and backed by responsible and flexible approaches from all Member States, they would succeed in revitalizing multilateral disarmament. The speakers said they looked forward to working with the new Secretary-General of the Conference and assured him of their fullest support and extended their best wishes for success during his term at the helm of the United Nations at Geneva and the Conference on Disarmament.

Speaking this morning were Kazakhstan on behalf of the Group of Eastern Europe, Morocco on behalf of the Group of 21, France on behalf of the Group of Western Europe, China, Switzerland, Indonesia on behalf of ASEAN States, Iraq, the Philippines on behalf of the Informal Group of Observer States, the Russian Federation, Belarus, Iran, Algeria and the Republic of Korea.

During this morning’s meeting the Conference also accepted the request of Armenia to participate in the work of the Conference on Disarmament in 2011 as an Observer State.


The next public plenary of the Conference will be this afternoon at 3 p.m. when it will hear an address from Ahmet Umzucu, Director-General of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.


Statements

WANG QUN, President of the Conference on Disarmament, (China), said that following the formal decision taken by the Conference on 17 May with respect to the appointment of Kassym-Jomart Tokayev as Secretary-General of the Conference on Disarmament, Mr. Ban Ki-moon had informed them that he had appointed Mr. Tokayev as Secretary-General of the Conference and his personal representative. Mr. Qun therefore congratulated Mr. Tokayev on his appointment. Mr. Tokayev was a well known statesman with enormous diplomatic experience and they hoped he would bring new impetus and vitality to this august body at this critical juncture. He assured Mr. Tokayev of their support in carrying out his duties.

KASSYM-JOMART TOKAYEV, Secretary-General of the Conference on Disarmament and Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva, thanked Mr. Qun for his remarks and said that it was a great pleasure to address this distinguished body in his new function as Secretary-General on the Conference on Disarmament. He was grateful for their support of his nomination and he stood ready to support the membership in its activities. He had the honour of addressing the Conference nine years ago and at that time he stated it was imperative to commence work in parallel on various issues, otherwise the Conference on Disarmament would lose credibility and they would have to seek alternative ways of solving the relevant problems. Since that time not much had evolved. They had seen a number of draft proposals to commence substantive work, but unfortunately none of them had led to a way out of the impasse they currently faced.

Mr. Tokayev said the United Nations Secretary-General had said that the continued deadlock in the Conference had ominous implications for international security, and this body had remained stagnant while States and political events were on the move. The last Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference had been successful and bilateral efforts were coming to fruition, such as the New START Treaty, but the Conference on Disarmament had ended its last session without starting substantive work and this was disappointing for the entire international community.

Mr. Tokayev said he was from a country that had voluntarily renounced nuclear weapons and closed down its nuclear testing grounds, so he attached great importance to the work of the Conference. There was an obvious disagreement on how to proceed in the future, and calls were being heard to take issues outside of the Conference. While this could be a way to advance some issues, such an approach would seriously affect the Conference on Disarmament and make the body irrelevant. The General Assembly would discuss this issue in July and also in September, and they had to be realists and see the truth regardless of whether it brought pleasure or trouble. If this year ended without a programme of work the future of the body would be very complicated. It was against this sobering backdrop that he assumed his duties as the Secretary-General of the Conference on Disarmament. He was more optimistic than pessimistic and he looked forward to their collective wisdom and their diplomatic creativity. It was time to look at disarmament issues in the global political context of global security. The recent editorial by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was an eloquent call to arms for the Conference to overcome its differences, including by holding a high level meeting. His proposals needed to be taken seriously and considered a platform for starting substantive work.

Mr. Tokayev believed the Conference on Disarmament had the capacity to drag itself out of its impasse. Deliberations and discussions had to be accompanied by negotiations and he would do everything he could to prevent this body from falling in disarray. He did not believe such an accomplished body could not overcome its differences and he trusted their collective wisdom and their sense of responsibility.

Concluding Remarks

WANG QUN, President of the Conference on Disarmament, (China), concluded the meeting by saying that the next meeting would be this afternoon at 3 p.m. at which time they would welcome the Director-General of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.


For use of the information media; not an official record

DC11/031E