CONFERENCE ON DISARMAMENT DECIDES TO APPOINT THREE SPECIAL COORDINATORS

CONFERENCE ON DISARMAMENT DECIDES TO APPOINT THREE SPECIAL COORDINATORS

Coordinators Would Consult on Review of Agenda,

Expansion of Membership, Improved and Effective Functioning

GENEVA, 14 June (UN Information Service) -- The Conference on Disarmament this morning decided in a consensus to appoint three Special Coordinators on the review of its agenda, the expansion of its membership and its improved and effective functioning.

The three Special Coordinators, in discharging their duties and functions, would take into account all proposals and views, as well as future initiatives.  The Coordinators would be requested to report to the Conference before the conclusion of the 2001 session.

In its decision, the Conference reaffirmed its commitment to work intensively towards the approval of a programme of work, using the Amorim Proposal as a basis for further intensified consultations and taking into consideration all relevant proposals.

The President of the Conference, Ambassador Camilo Reyes Rodriguez of Colombia, said that the proposal had received unanimous approval during his informal consultations that he held yesterday.   The decision adopted by the Conference was a modest achievement which would lead to the overcoming of the current stalemate in the Conference.  He said he would immediately start his consultations for the appointment of the three Coordinators.

The representatives of Italy and Germany made statements expressing support for the decision to appoint Special Coordinators.

The representative of France drew attention to a statement made by his country’s Head of State on 8 June, in which he expressed concern about the stalemate in the work of the Conference.

The next plenary of the Conference will be held at 10:00 a.m. on Thursday, 21 June.

Statements

PAUL DAHAN (France) drew attention to the statement made by the President of France, Mr. Jacques Chirac, on 8 June 2001 at the Institute of Higher National Defence Studies, which was part of the France’s position in the field of security policy, limitation of armaments and disarmament. 

Mr. Dahan quoted the French President as saying that he had expressed his concern about the work of the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva being deadlocked for several months now.  The negotiations on a fissile material cutoff treaty which were decided in 1995 had not yet begun, while the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty’s (CTBT) entry into force was contingent on its ratification process.

MARIO E. MAIOLINI (Italy) said that Italy supported a prompt beginning of a programme of work on the three outstanding issues on the basis of the Amorim Proposal.  Moreover, as his delegation suggested three months ago, he supported the idea of beginning to work on the four so-called “noncontroversial issues” of the agenda:  anti-personnel landmines; negative security assurances; transparency in armaments; and reform of procedures in the Conference. 

Mr. Maiolini said that the decision to appoint Special Coordinators was the minimum achievable and a possible first step, a first block on which to build a more substantial construction.  The appointment represented a procedural instrument, which could as well be utilized for the other “noncontroversial issues”.  The recourse to Special Coordinators was not substantive work, but merely a procedural instrument useful when there was no consensus on a substantive programme of work.

Mr. Maiolini further said that when his delegation proposed to begin work on the noncontroversial issues, the hope and the intention were to see some movement in several directions, in order to reach possible results in some of them.  Possibly one could have seen that, in a mutual give-and-take process, concessions of some delegations on one aspect could be rewarded by concessions by other delegations on another item.

KLAUS ACHENBACH (Germany) said the appointment of the Special Coordinators was the first decision of its kind that the Conference had been able to take for more than two years.  It was an important decision as a first step toward breaking out of complete stalemate, and would create some dialogue in the Conference on other issues. 

Mr. Achenbach said that the decision, which was a procedural instrument, was only a first measure in a step-by-step procedure and the second step would be the appointment of Special Coordinators on anti-personnel landmines, transparency in armaments, and ad hoc committees on negative security assurances.  Germany would continue to support the efforts of the President and those of the Special Coordinators with the view to allowing the Conference to continue its work of negotiation.                                               

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