PROSPECTS OF CONFERENCE ON DISARMAMENT MOVING AHEAD IN 2001 ARE NOT ENCOURAGING, PRESIDENT SAYS

PROSPECTS OF CONFERENCE ON DISARMAMENT MOVING AHEAD

IN 2001 ARE NOT ENCOURAGING, PRESIDENT SAYS

(Reissued as received)

GENEVA, 23 August (UN Information Service) -- The incoming President of the Conference on Disarmament, Ambassador Roberto Betancourt Ruales of Ecuador, this morning told Conference members and observers that as they stood on the threshold of the end of the third part of the 2001 session, the prospects for moving ahead on substantive matters did not appear encouraging.

Ambassador Betancourt Ruales said that during the period of Ecuador's Presidency (until 31 December 2001), no changes were expected in the climate of stagnation, especially since the strategic scenario and international security situation still appeared to a large extent to determine progress toward any kind of consensus.  Nevertheless, it would not be reasonable to exclude the possibility in the future of arriving at a new consensus decision which would allow the Conference to advance and progress.  He believed that in the time available, the members would only be able to prepare the ground for next year's session. 

The President said that he proposed to continue undertaking consultations with a view to identifying possible ways of arriving at a consensus for agreement on a programme of work.  In response to the recommendation by his predecessor, Ambassador Betancourt Ruales said that he would, in consultation with the delegations, attempt to identify the best formula for ensuring that the work of the three Special Coordinators should continue.  It was also clear that the work of the Coordinators, which was fully supported by the President and the members of the Conference, could in no way replace the main activity for which the Conference was responsible with respect to the substantive matters of the programme of work, he added.

Also addressing the Conference plenary this morning was Ambassador Jean Lint of Belgium who said that Zimbabwe and Belgium were organizing, in cooperation with Nicaragua, an information meeting on the Third Conference of State Parties to the Convention on the prohibition of the use, stockpiling, production and transfer of antipersonnel mines and on their destruction, which would be held in Managua from 18 to 21 September 2001.  The information meeting would be held on 29 August from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. in room VII of the Palais des Nations.  Ambassador Betancourt Ruales said that immediately after the plenary, Ambassador Gunter Seibert of Germany, Special Coordinator on the review of the agenda, would hold informal, open-ended consultations on the review of the agenda.

The next plenary of the Conference on Disarmament will be held at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, 28 August.  The President said that the Special Coordinator on improved and effective functioning of the Conference, Ambassador Prasad Kariyawasam, and the Special Coordinator for the expansion of the Conference, Ambassador Petko Draganov of Bulgaria, would present their respective reports to the Conference at that meeting.  There would also be a plenary at 10 a.m. on Thursday, 30 August.

Statements

ROBERTO BETANCOURT RUALES (Ecuador), incoming President of the Conference, said that his country joined the Conference on Disarmament in 1999 in the belief that a world free of nuclear weapons was not only a dream but an urgent necessity and that this body was able to take care of the security requirements of all States and especially to safeguard the rights of those which did not possess nuclear weapons.  Ecuador supported objectives such as the intensification and irreversibility of the nuclear disarmament process through the elimination and destruction of those weapons.  It was also in favour of the establishment of new nuclear-weapon-free zones.

Ambassador Betancourt Ruales said that on taking over the Presidency, Ecuador noted with deep concern the fact that, despite the considerable diplomatic efforts made by the last 18 Presidents of the Conference on Disarmament who had held this office since 1999, it had not been possible to reverse the situation of paralysis which prevailed within the Conference, where serious differences regarding crucial matters were threatening the very raison d'etre of the Conference and making it impossible to approve a programme of work.  Despite the circumstances, however, Conference members renewed their trust and supported all efforts aimed at reactivating the goal for which the Conference on Disarmament was created.  The Conference had a very clear mandate to promote and preserve international peace and security through the elimination of nuclear weapons and arms reduction and control.

During the period of Ecuador's Presidency (until 31 December 2001),

Mr. Betancourt Ruales said that no changes were expected in the climate of stagnation earlier described, especially since the strategic scenario and international security situation still appeared to a large extent to determine progress toward any kind of consensus.  The Conference was on the threshold of the end of the third part of its 2001 session and the prospects for moving ahead with the treatment of substantive matters did not appear encouraging.  Nevertheless, it would not be reasonable to exclude the possibility in the future of arriving at a new consensus decision which would allow it to advance and progress.  He believed that in the time available, the members would only be able to prepare the ground for next year's session. 

The incoming President said that he proposed to continue undertaking consultations with a view to identifying possible ways of arriving at a consensus for agreement on a programme of work.  In response to the recommendation by his predecessor, he would, in consultation with the delegations, attempt to identify the best formula for ensuring that the work of the three Special Coordinators should continue.  It was also clear that the work of the Coordinators, which was fully supported by the President and the members of the Conference, could in no

way replace the main activity for which the Conference was responsible with respect to the substantive matters of the programme of work.

JEAN LINT (Belgium) said that as Co-Presidents of the Committee on the general state and functioning of the Convention on the prohibition of the use, stockpiling, production and transfer of antipersonnel mines and on their destruction, Zimbabwe and Belgium were organizing, in cooperation with Nicaragua, an information meeting on the Third Conference of State Parties to the Convention which would be held in Managua from 18 to 21 September 2001.  The information meeting would be held on 29 August from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. in room VII of the Palais des Nations.  All members were invited and they would be provided with all the documents available at that time on the Conference.  To date, there were

118 States parties which had ratified or acceded to the Convention, and 140 States parties which had signed, ratified or acceded to it. 

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