GOVERNMENTAL EXPERTS TO REVIEW RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN DISARMAMENT AND DEVELOPMENT, 17-21 NOVEMBER

GOVERNMENTAL EXPERTS TO REVIEW RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN DISARMAMENT

AND DEVELOPMENT, 17-21 NOVEMBER

NEW YORK, 17 November (Department for Disarmament Affairs) -- A group of governmental experts to undertake a review of the relationship between disarmament and development is holding its first session from 17 to 21 November, at the Palais des Nations in Geneva.

Experts from 16 Member States, representing different regions and subregions, have been invited to participate in the work of the group, which will be chaired by Ambassador José Nicolás Rivas of Colombia.

This is the second review of the subject by governmental experts.  The first one was carried out after more than 20 years ago, during the period 1978-1981.  In December 1984, the General Assembly decided to hold an International Conference on the Relationship between Disarmament and Development, which took place in September 1987.  The Conference produced a Final Document, containing a programme of action that has served as the primary basis of subsequent General Assembly resolutions on the subject.

The expert group was established pursuant to General Assembly resolution 57/65, which requests the Secretary-General, with the assistance of a group of governmental experts, to undertake a reappraisal of the relationship between disarmament and development in the current international context as well as the future role of the Organization in this connection, and to present a report with recommendations to the General Assembly at its fifty-ninth session.

The review was recommended in the annual report of the Secretary-General to the General Assembly on the relationship between disarmament and development (document A/57/167).

The group will be holding its second and third sessions at United Nations Headquarters in New York during 8-12 March and 24-28 May 2004, respectively.

For further information:  contact Nazir Kamal, Conventional Arms Branch, Department for Disarmament Affairs, New York, tel:  1-212-963-6195;

e-mail:  kamaln@un.org

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