REGIONAL MEETING ON DISARMAMENT TO BE HELD IN KATHMANDU, 21-24 FEBRUARY
Press Release
DC/2542
REGIONAL MEETING ON DISARMAMENT TO BE HELD IN KATHMANDU, 21-24 FEBRUARY
19960202 NEW YORK, 2 February (Centre for Disarmament Affairs) -- The Centre for Disarmament Affairs, through its Regional Centre for Peace and Disarmament in Asia and the Pacific, will convene a regional disarmament meeting on "Priority Issues on the Current Disarmament Agenda: Global and Regional Concerns". It will be held in Kathmandu from 21 to 24 February.In the field of nuclear disarmament, the meeting will focus on issues such as the status of the negotiations on a comprehensive nuclear test-ban treaty, non-proliferation and transfer of technology, safety in nuclear materials and nuclear-weapon-free zones and the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN). In the field of conventional disarmament, it will deal with the concept of micro-disarmament, proliferation of small arms and confidence-building measures. It will also take up regional initiatives to develop region-oriented disarmament approaches as a supplement to global measures. A workshop on the United Nations Register of Conventional Arms will be held on 24 February, aimed at encouraging a wider use of the global Register and exploring the possibility of developing regional variants.
Approximately 35 participants from government, academic and research institutes and non-governmental organizations, mainly from the region, are expected to attend the four-day meeting, which is the eighth in a series. It will be financed entirely from voluntary contributions of Member States and other interested organizations.
The Regional Centre's activities, carried out through the organization of regional meetings, have the primary objective of encouraging regional and sub-regional dialogue for the enhancement of openness, transparency and confidence-building, as well as the promotion of disarmament and security. The dialogue facilitated by those regional meetings has become known as the "Kathmandu process". General Assembly resolution 50/71D reaffirmed the continued operation and further strengthening of the Regional Centre as an essential means to promote that process.
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