CONFERENCE ON DISARMAMENT STARTS SECOND PART OF 2001 SESSION

CONFERENCE ON DISARMAMENT STARTS SECOND PART OF 2001 SESSION

President Says Delegations Concerned about How

International Developments Will Affect Work of Conference

(Reissued as received.)

GENEVA, 17 May (UN Information Service) -- The Conference on Disarmament this morning held the first public plenary of the second part of its 2001 session, hearing statements by the representatives of Turkey, Japan, Belgium and France.

The representative of Turkey, speaking also on behalf of Greece, said he was pleased to be able to inform the Conference of a recent step taken jointly by Turkey and Greece in respect of adherence to the Convention.  Following a meeting last month of the Ministers for Foreign Affairs of the two States, they had decided to concurrently start the procedures that would make both sides parties to the Ottawa Convention.

The representative of Belgium noted with great satisfaction the statement by the Ambassador of Turkey which was important in the context of good relations between Turkey and Greece.  He said his country encouraged all States which were not yet parties to the Convention to ratify or accede to it as soon as possible.

The representative of Japan informed the Conference that a workshop on a treaty to ban the production of fissile material for nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices was held in Geneva on 14 and 15 May, co-hosted by the Governments of Japan and Australia.  The workshop was intended to contribute to deepening the participants' knowledge and expertise on the treaty issues and to developing their views on those issues in order to get ready for the moment the negotiations on such a treaty started in the Conference.

The representative of France spoke about the launching of an Internet Web site by the representation of France to the Conference at www.delegfrance-cd-geneva.org.  Posted on this Web site were a selection of positions of France on a number of security and disarmament questions.

The President of the Conference, Ambassador Hu Xiaodi of China, said that in the consultations that he had held, delegations had manifested concern and dissatisfaction with regard to the present situation, and had expressed hope that substantive work would start soon.  Many had expressed concern about developments in the field of international security which they concluded would one way or

another continue to exert influence on the work of the Conference.  He would continue to hold consultations with a view to helping the Conference move forward on the basis of the work which had already been carried out.  Notwithstanding the unfavourable overall situation, he hoped that the Conference would be able to find new ways of thinking and new positions at the start of this second part of the session. 

The President said that the next plenary meeting would exceptionally be held on Wednesday 23 May, at 10 a.m., so that the Foreign Minister of Mongolia, Luvsangin Erdenechuluun, could address the Conference.

Statements

MURAT SUNGAR (Turkey), making a joint statement on behalf of Turkey and Greece, said he was pleased to be able to inform the Conference of a recent step taken jointly by Turkey and Greece in respect of adherence to the Ottawa Convention.  During the visit by the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Greece to Turkey last month, the two Ministers for Foreign Affairs made a joint statement on 6 April 2001 in which they emphasized the desirability of adherence of all States to the Ottawa Convention and announced their decision to concurrently become parties to the Convention. 

He said the joint statement by the two Foreign Ministers said that their countries were conscious of the human suffering and casualties caused by irresponsible and indiscriminate use of anti-personnel landmines.  The two Ministers also recognized that a total ban on those mines was an important confidence-building measure that would contribute to security and stability in the region.  The two countries decided to concurrently start the procedures that would make both sides parties to the Ottawa Convention.

SEIICHIRO NOBORU (Japan) informed the Conference that a workshop on a treaty to ban the production of fissile material for nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices was held in Geneva on 14 and 15 May, co-hosted by the Governments of Japan and Australia.  The workshop was intended to contribute to deepening the participants' knowledge and expertise on the treaty issues and to developing their views on those issues in order to get ready for the moment the negotiations on such a treaty started in the Conference.

He said the workshop had been composed of three sessions.  Sharing some personal observations, he said the participants had expressed a strong interest in the significance of a fissile material cut-off treaty, including a sense of urgency towards agreement on a programme of work of the Conference that included the immediate commencement of negotiations on such a treaty.  Concrete ideas were suggested regarding whether the treaty should deal with future production or with stocks as well.  Views were still divergent on this issue.  Maximum flexibility was needed.  And concerning verification, participants had pointed out several technical and political problems which had to be carefully considered to make the verification system credible.  He hoped that any further exercise of this kind would have universal attendance.

JEAN LINT (Belgium) said his delegation had noted with great satisfaction the statement by the Ambassador of Turkey which was important in the context of good relations between Turkey and Greece.  Up to today, 114 States had ratified or acceded to the Land Mine Ban Treaty and 140 had signed, acceded to or ratified it.  Two members of the Conference on Disarmament had just concluded their national ratification procedures and had deposited their ratification instruments with the Secretary-General.  On this occasion, Belgium encouraged all States which were not yet parties to the Convention to ratify or accede to it as soon as possible.

HUBERT DE LA FORTELL (France) called the attention of delegations to a note which had been distributed concerning the launching of an Internet Web site by the representation of France to the Conference at www.delegfrance-cd-geneva.org.  Posted on this Web site were a selection of positions of France on a number of security and disarmament questions.  He hoped the new Web site would be of use to delegations in the Conference as well as the research community.

HU XIAODI (China), President of the Conference, said he wished to report on the consultations which he had held with various parties since the end of the first part of the 2001 session.  He had exchanged views with 30 delegations on the present situation and how to break the deadlock.  Because of the time constraints, he had not been able to hold consultations with more delegations.  He wished to summarize his inconclusive views.  First, all sides had manifested concern and dissatisfaction with regard to the present situation in the Conference, and had expressed hope that substantive work would start soon.  Many had expressed concern about developments in the field of international security, which they concluded would one way or another continue to exert influence on the work of the Conference.  Second, all delegations he had spoken to agreed that document CD1624 or the Amorim proposal could be used as a basis for further intensified negotiations.  There had been other proposals suggesting amendments to it.  There was no consensus on these.  Third, concerning the next step to take, some advocated intensive consultations on the main contentious issues, while others suggested that more attention should be devoted to exploring relevant proposals or suggestions relating to complementary actions during the waiting period.

The PRESIDENT noted that in the previous, a large number of proposals were made, but no delegation had asked him to seek comments from all sides on any one proposal.  So he believed that most of these proposals were still at the stage of being discussed before being formally presented to the Conference.  In view of the above circumstances, he would continue to hold consultations with a view to helping the Conference move forward on the basis of the work which had already been carried out.  Notwithstanding the unfavourable overall situation, he hoped that the Conference would be able to find new ways of thinking and new positions at the start of this second part of the session. 

He added that the next plenary meeting would exceptionally be held on Wednesday, 23 May, at 10 a.m. so that the Foreign Minister of Mongolia, Luvsangin Erdenechuluun, could address the Conference.

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