CONFERENCE ON DISARMAMENT BEGINS 1999 SESSION

19 January 1999

Press Release
DCF/352

CONFERENCE ON DISARMAMENT BEGINS 1999 SESSION

19990119 GENEVA, 19 January (UN Information Service) -- The Conference on Disarmament, the world's sole multilateral forum for disarmament negotiations, this morning started the first part of its 1999 session and heard calls from South Africa and Myanmar for the establishment of an Ad Hoc Committee on nuclear disarmament.

The President of the Conference, Robert Grey of the United States, said there was strong support among Member States for the Conference to start off in 1999 where it had finished last September (see background press release DCF/351/issued 12 January). He said further consultations would be necessary before the Conference could adopt its agenda.

Vladimir Petrovsky, Secretary-General of the Conference and Personal Representative of the Secretary-General, noted that Secretary-General Kofi Annan would be addressing the plenary meeting of the Conference on Tuesday, 26 January. Therefore, he said he would confine his remarks to some organizational aspects of the 1999 session.

Following a brief informal plenary, Mr. Grey said the Conference had decided to allow representatives of the following 40 countries to participate in its work as observers: Denmark, Brunei, Costa Rica, the Kyrgyz Republic, Georgia, Malaysia, Seychelles, Gabon, the Holy See, Macedonia, Kuwait, Guatemala, Portugal, Thailand, San Marino, Slovenia, Uruguay, Zambia, Madagascar, Ghana, Tunis, Azerbaijan, Kazakstan, Ecuador, Singapore, Qatar, Lithuania, the Philippines, the Czech Republic, Oman, Sudan, Nepal, Cyprus, Malta, Iceland, Mauritius, Greece, Ireland, Croatia and Jordan.

The Conference will hold its next plenary on Thursday, 21 January, at 10 a.m.

PETER GREY (United States), President of the Conference, said he hoped and believed the members of the Conference would be willing to participate together to create a firm basis on which to start their work. At the onset of the 1998 session, the Conference had carried out comprehensive discussions to agree on its programme of work and this task had been intricate and arduous. The Conference should treat last year's arrangements with respect. It would be rash to put aside the complex balance which had emerged following these

discussions. This organizational balance which was adopted offered a prudent basis for the work of the Conference in 1999.

Mr. Grey said that following discussions he had held, he could inform the members that there was strong support for the Conference to start off in 1999 where it had finished last September. He said that efforts concerning item 1 of the agenda "Cessation of the Nuclear Arms Race and Nuclear Disarmament" should continue unabated.

VLADIMIR PETROVSKY, Secretary-General of the Conference and Personal Representative of the Secretary-General, noted that Secretary-General Kofi Annan would be addressing the plenary meeting of the Conference on Tuesday, 26 January. Therefore, he would confine his remarks to some organizational aspects of the 1999 session. The Conference would be allocated 10 meetings per week with full services during its 1999 session. It was essential that the Conference make the best possible use of the resources allocated to it, especially because of the seriousness of the financial situation of the United Nations. The situation with regard to documentation in the United Nations also continued to be the source of serious concern. Therefore the measures already observed by the Conference concerning savings in documentation continued to be valid. Delegations were also reminded to submit their letters of accreditation as soon as possible, as well as the list of participants.

PETER GOOSEN (South Africa) said the first order of business which faced the Conference today was the adoption of its agenda for 1999. The most efficient option would be for the Conference to immediately adopt its agenda for 1999 based on the decalogue which had been adopted last year. The Conference should then turn its attention to reaching an agreement on the work which it actually had to do this year. It was essential that agreement be reached on this in the shortest possible time.

Mr. Goosen said success would only be possible if all delegations approached this part of the session on a basis of mutual respect for, and recognition of, one another's positions. A denial of the need to address important issues would not create the positive atmosphere in the Conference on Disarmament which was so essential. While all supported and wished to see the early commencement of the negotiations for a treaty dealing with fissile material, members should also see what could be done in the programme of work with regard to the other imperatives which faced the Conference.

South Africa continued to welcome the decision taken last year in the Conference to establish the Ad Hoc Committee under item 1 of the agenda entitled "Cessation of the Nuclear Arms Race and Nuclear Disarmament" which would be negotiating the fissile material treaty (FMT) on the basis of the Shannon Report. South Africa saw the negotiations on an FMT as being of

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particular importance given the key nature of fissile material as a component of nuclear weapons.

Mr. Goosen recalled that on 20 January 1998, South Africa had tabled before the Conference a draft decision for the establishment of an Ad Hoc Committee on nuclear disarmament. The proposal was never put to a decision in the plenary of the Conference. South Africa wished to formally lay this proposal before the Conference today. It read: "The Conference on Disarmament decides to establish an Ad Hoc Committee on nuclear disarmament to deliberate upon practical steps for systematic and progressive efforts to eliminate nuclear weapons as well as to identify if and when one or more such steps should be the subject of negotiations in the Conference. In discharging its function, the Ad Hoc Committee will take into account existing proposals and views, as well as future initiatives on nuclear disarmament."

The text of this draft decision had been very carefully negotiated so as to draw the widest possible support from among the delegations represented, he said. South Africa was not intransigent on the wording of its proposal and it was more than willing to enter into intensive consultations to craft wording which would enjoy the necessary support. It believed that to simply reinvent the "Presidency consultations" agreement of last year would be a mistake. Therefore, South Africa intended to put forward this proposal at the formal meeting of the plenary on 28 January for decision. This was not an attempt to establish a linkage with the fissile material negotiations. South Africa, now and in the future, fully supported the early commencement and conclusion of these negotiations.

U AYE (Myanmar) said the Conference on Disarmament last year witnessed various efforts, at times transcending traditional political boundaries, to address the question of nuclear disarmament. Unfortunately, such initiatives were not accompanied by the necessary political will on the part of the major players to achieve some measure of progress. Such talk had echoed in the Conference and elsewhere for the urgency to eliminate weapons of mass destruction. Yet practical results had been dismal with regard to substantive measures directed toward the eventual and total elimination of nuclear weapons which constituted the most destructive of such weapons of mass destruction. Myanmar was in favour of establishing a full-fledged Ad Hoc Committee on nuclear disarmament on a priority basis to commence substantive work on the subject. Myanmar was also prepared to listen and consider with an open mind all approaches that could rapidly achieve this common objective.

Mr. Aye said Myanmar hoped that the momentum achieved last year on a treaty banning the production of fissile material would continue to exist and intensify in the first part of the 1999 session. At the same time, pending the ultimate goal of total elimination of nuclear weapons, the non- nuclear-weapon States had a legitimate right to receive legally binding assurances from the nuclear-weapon States. Therefore, Myanmar gave its

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whole-hearted support to the re-establishment of the Ad Hoc Committee on security assurances. Myanmar also stressed the importance of the establishment of nuclear-weapon-free zones on the basis of arrangements freely arrived at among States in various regions of the world. Myanmar also was in favour of establishing the Ad Hoc Committee on prevention of an arms race in outer space this year. It also believed the Conference could possibly look into the topic of anti-personnel landmines again by re-establishing the Special Coordinator on this topic.

Concerning the expansion of the Conference, Mr. Aye said Myanmar hoped that Ecuador, Ireland, Kazakstan, Malaysia and Tunisia would be admitted as full members to the Conference without any further delay.

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