CONFERENCE ON DISARMAMENT STARTS THIRD AND FINAL PART OF 2003 SESSION

Hears Statements from China, Russian Federation, Japan,

Serbia and Montenegro, Italy, Algeria and Conference President

(Reissued as received.)

GENEVA, 31 July (UN Information Service) -- The Conference on Disarmament today started the third and final part of its 2003 session, hearing statements from China and the Russian Federation on prevention of an arms race in outer space; Japan on small arms; Serbia and Montenegro on the Ottawa Convention; Italy on the Thessaloniki European Council, and from Algeria and the incoming President of the Conference on the stalemate affecting the work of the body.

In an opening statement, Ambassador Carlo Trezza of Italy, the incoming President of the Conference, said that there was a certain amount of legitimate frustration resulting from a lack of progress in the work of the Conference.  The representatives accredited to the Conference were not responsible for the present stalemate, which was to be attributed rather to the existing international circumstances.  He would try his best, in consultations with all, to reduce the gap between the different positions and to revitalize the Conference.

Speaking about the joint Chinese and Russian initiative on prevention of an arms race in outer space, Ambassador Hu Xiaodi of China said that to prevent the weaponization of and an arms race in outer space, one should not wait until outer space weapons had been put in place and were causing damage.  The key was to take preventive measures.  To conclude an international legal agreement to prevent the deployment of weapons in outer space without further delay stood out as the best way and the Conference could and should take up that task.

Ambassador Leonid Skotnikov of the Russian Federation said that at the fifty-sixth session of the United Nations General Assembly, Russia had suggested that, pending a relevant agreement, a moratorium on deploying weapons in outer space should be introduced.   Russia was ready to take such an obligation immediately, if the leading space powers joined that moratorium.  Russia called for other countries that had space-launching capabilities to join it and undertake all the necessary measures for building confidence in the outer space activities.

Informing the Conference on the outcome of the United Nations First Biennial Meeting of States to Consider the Implementation of the Programme of Action to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects, Ambassador Kuniko Inoguchi of Japan said that the meeting had gone beyond its primary objective and had become a forum for strengthening existing partnerships and building new ones among States, international and regional organizations and civil society bodies.  It was her fervent wish that all States made full use of this opportunity to reinforce their commitment to the Programme of Action and built on the results of the meeting by taking concrete steps to strengthen national, regional and global efforts to eradicate the illicit trade in small arms.

Ambassador Dusanka Divjak-Tomic of Serbia and Montenegro said that on 20 June, the Parliament of Serbia and Montenegro had passed the law on ratification of the mine ban treaty, better known as the Ottawa Convention.  By passing this act, Serbia and Montenegro had made a final step on the way to its full integration into the international family of Member States. 

Speaking in his national capacity to report on the Thessaloniki European Council, Ambassador Trezza read out the Declaration on the Non-Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction, which was adopted in June 2003.  Among other things, it said that the European Union was committed to further elaborate before the end of the year a coherent European Union strategy to address the threat of proliferation, and to continue to develop and implement the European Union Action Plan as a matter of priority.

Ambassador Mohamed Salah Dembri of Algeria said that in consultations yesterday, he had noticed that there was movement forward on the "Five Ambassadors" initiative.  However, it was obvious that there was still some room for compromise.  He counted on the President to continue to reconcile views.  He hoped that in the weeks to come, it would be possible for the Conference to make a clean break and progress on some of its issues.

The next plenary of the Conference will take place at 10 a.m. on Thursday, 7 August 2003.

Statements

CARLO TREZZA (Italy), incoming President of the Conference, said it was a great honour for him to preside over the Conference at the outset of his tenure in Geneva.  In the three weeks that he had been in the city, he had tried to consult with as many heads of delegations and group coordinators as possible.  He had also met with the Secretary-General of the Conference, Sergei Ordzhonikidze, and with the Deputy Secretary-General, Enrique Roman-Morey.  He would try to summarize some of the conclusions that he had drawn from his consultations which he hoped could be useful as a possible basis for advancing the work of the Conference.  During the consultations, no one had questioned the continued threat represented by the possibilities of the dissemination of weapons of mass destruction or by conventional weapons.  No one had expressed doubts over the necessity to counter those threats with measures of disarmament, arms control, non-proliferation and, in some cases, with measures of counter-proliferation.  While the Conference had not been negated in substantial negotiations since 1999, its impressive negotiating record of agreement and treaties could not be ignored.

Ambassador Trezza said that there was a certain amount of legitimate frustration resulting from a lack of progress which was, however, compensated to a large extent by the significant achievements and evolution on other areas in which most of the participants had been involved such as conventional weapons, and nuclear and biological non-proliferation.  The Conference and the representatives accredited to it were not responsible for the present stalemate, which was to be attributed rather to the existing international circumstances.  More experienced and seasoned Chairmen of the Conference had preceded him and attempted to find a solution to the problem of the programme of work.  He did not intend to propose new formulas or tricks.  Referring to the "Five Ambassadors" initiative, he said a large number of countries had supported the proposal and a significant number of countries had not expressed objections.  Among the suggestions made during his consultations was that the Conference should start work on one or a few of the items of the initiative, not necessarily the most controversial ones.  Also, new themes like, among others, a greater Conference exposure to civil society and non-governmental organizations, and radiological weapons could also be legitimately discussed.  Another issue was the major effort by a growing number of countries to assist other countries in eliminating weapons of mass destruction.

In conclusion, Ambassador Trezza said that he would try his best, in consultations with all, to reduce the gap between the different positions and to revitalize the Conference.

HU XIAODI (China), addressing the issue of Prevention of an Arms Race in Outer Space (PAROS), said that his country had tabled its first PAROS working paper entitled “China’s Basis Positions on the Prevention of an Arms Race in Outer Space” in 1985 as contained in CD/579.  In 2000, China had submitted to the Conference another working paper entitled “China’s Position on and Suggestions for Ways to Address the Issue of Prevention of an Arms Race in Outer Space at the Conference on Disarmament” contained in CD/1606.  Those two documents had elaborated China’s principled positions on the issue of PAROS.  In 2001, China had put forward CD/1645 entitled “Possible Elements of the Future International Legal Instrument on the Prevention of the Weaponization of Outer Space”.  Building upon them, China and the Russian Federation, together with the delegations of Viet Nam, Indonesia, Belarus, Zimbabwe and Syria, jointly submitted in 2002 a working paper entitled “Possible Elements For a Future International Legal Agreement On the Prevention of the Deployment of Weapons in Outer Space, the Threat or Use of Force against Outer Space Objects”, as contained in CD/1679.

Mr. Hu said that outer space was the common heritage of all mankind.  Space assets should serve rather than hamper the peace, welfare and development of all peoples.  It was both the right and obligation of all countries to ensure the peaceful use of outer space and prevent the weaponization of and an arms race in outer space.  Year after year, the relevant UNGA resolutions on PAROS also testified to that.  To prevent the weaponization of and an arms race in outer space, one should not wait until outer space weapons had been put in place and were causing damages.  It would be too late if one country led in ushering weapons into outer space, with other States following the suit.  It was imperative to do everything necessary to prevent the prospect of “space weapon proliferation”.  The key was to take preventive measures.  The right of using out space peacefully and the security of outer space assets would be put in jeopardy.  To conclude an international legal agreement to prevent the deployment of weapons in outer space without further delay stood out as the best way.  The Conference could and should take up that task.

LEONID A. SKOTNIKOV (Russian Federation) said that in June 2002, his delegation and China together with a group of co-sponsors had tabled at the Conference a working paper “Possible Elements for a Future International Legal Agreement on Prevention of the Deployment of Weapons in Outer Space, the Threat or Use of Force Against Outer Space Objects”.  The group was quite satisfied with the response it had received.  The majority of the delegations took an active part in discussions at the meetings organized by the co-sponsors, including the latest impressively representative open-ended seminar, which was held in February.  The group had very useful bilateral contacts with some partners as well.  A number of delegations had expressed their views on that issue at the CD plenary meetings.  As a result of the Russian-Chinese working paper, interesting ideas and specific proposals had emerged, which the co-authors had attempted to compile in the informal document that was being presented to the CD this morning.  The fact that the Russian-Chinese initiative had become a subject of intense discussions indicated that the problems it was dealing with were extremely topical, and that the overwhelming majority of the CD Member States were ready and willing to begin substantive work at the Conference on the issue.

Mr. Skotnikov said that his country’s commitment to the prohibition of deployment of weapons in outer space was demonstrated by a number of its initiatives in the United Nations.  In particular, at the 56th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Russia had suggested that, pending a relevant agreement, a moratorium on deploying weapons in outer space should be introduced.  Russia was ready to take such an obligation immediately, if the leading space powers joined that moratorium.  In October 2002, the Foreign Minister of Russia had announced that his country was ready to undertake a new measure to ensure openness and to build confidence in outer space:  to notify in advance of planned launches of space objects, their purpose and basic parameters.  After the necessary preparatory work, the Russian side had unilaterally started practical realization of that initiative.  Now information on forthcoming space launches, provided by the Ministry of Defence of Russian Federation and the Russian Aerospace Agency, was posted ahead of such launches on the official Internet site of the Ministry and was available to everybody.  Russia called for other countries that had space launching capabilities to join it and undertake all the necessary measures for building confidence in the outer space activities.

KUNIKO INOGUCHI (Japan) informed the Conference on the outcome of the United Nations First Biennial Meeting of States to Consider the Implementation of the Programme of Action to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects, in her capacity as Chair of this meeting which was held in New York from 7 to 11 July.  The meeting considered the national, regional and global implementation of the Programme of Action.  Representatives from a total of 99 Member States and one Observer State made statements on their national implementations of the Programme of Action, while several regional and international organizations and United Nations agencies made statements concerning the global and regional implementation of the Programme.  The meeting had provided an excellent opportunity to assess both progress that had been made and obstacles that had confronted the world in implementing it.  It had also offered States the opportunity together momentum to invigorate both political will and professional competence to combat the problem.

Ms. Inoguchi said that the meeting had gone beyond its primary objective and had become a forum for strengthening existing partnerships and building new ones among States, international and regional organizations and civil society bodies.  The growing necessity for a regional approach was also highlighted.  The establishment of norms and standards in order to fight terrorism and organized crime was also deemed essential.  And the meeting had provided a forum to gather momentum to invigorate a high level of political will to combat the problem.  It had clearly demonstrated that multilateralism mattered and that it could work.  It was her fervent wish that all States made full use of this opportunity to reinforce their commitment to the Programme of Action and to build on the results of the meeting by taking concrete steps to strengthen national, regional and global efforts to eradicate the illicit trade in small arms.

DUSANKA DIVJAK-TOMIC (Serbia and Montenegro) said that on 20 June, the Parliament of Serbia and Montenegro had passed the law on ratification of the mine ban treaty, better known as the Ottawa Convention.  By passing this act, Serbia and Montenegro had made a final step on the way to its full integration into the international family of Member States.  Though not yet a party to the Convention, Serbia and Montenegro had since 1992 stopped producing or transferring anti-personnel landmines and had demined the border areas with the neighbouring countries.  The preparations for the stockpile destruction were also under way.

CARLO TREZZA (Italy), speaking in his national capacity to report on the Thessaloniki European Council, said that the Declaration on the Non-Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction, which had been adopted by the Thessaloniki European Council in June 2003, had noted that the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and means of delivery such as ballistic missiles was a growing threat to international peace and security.  The risk that terrorists would acquire chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear materials added a new dimension to this threat.  The European Union was committed to further elaborate before the end of the year a coherent Union strategy to address the threat of proliferation, and to continue to develop and implement the European Union Action Plan as a matter of priority.  The Union was guided by its commitment to uphold and implement the multilateral disarmament and non-proliferation treaties and agreements. 

Mr. Trezza said that in further implementing the Action Plan, the Union would focus, among other things, on universalizing further the key disarmament and non-proliferation treaties, agreements and arrangements, and where necessary strengthen them, and in particular the means of ensuring compliances with their provisions.  It would also set up a unit within the Council Secretariat, which would function as a monitoring centre, entrusted with the monitoring of the consistent implementation of the Action Plan and the collection of information and intelligence.

MOHAMED SALAH DEMBRI (Algeria) said that he had no doubt that, with the knowledge of Mr. Trezza in the field of disarmament, the Conference would be able to achieve significant progress on a work programme.  He hoped the presidency of the Conference would continue to place an active role.  The risk of missing another year without adopting a work programme was already here.  The Conference had to collectively try to agree on a programme of work before the end of the year.

Mr. Dembri said that it was particularly unfair that certain political circles and the media portrayed the Conference as not doing its work.  This was an injustice as the diplomats were being extremely creative in the Conference.  Sharing some thoughts, he said that the non-aligned countries were sensitive and believed that the Conference should be involved in a more active phase which would lead to an assimilation of the collective work on disarmament.  Non-aligned countries were also concerned about the general situation.  They believed that the use of space must be for humankind as a whole, and now there was a lot of confusion as to what was civilian and what was military in space.  The Conference was aware of what was at stake and that it must produce a work programme to implement these wishes.  The immortalized words "humanity must disarm or perish" must be the beacon of the work of the Conference.

In conclusion, Mr. Dembri said that in consultations yesterday, he had noticed that there was forward movement on the "Five Ambassadors" initiative.  However, it was obvious that there was still some room for compromise.  He counted on the President to continue to reconcile views.  He hoped that in the weeks to come, it would be possible for the Conference to make a clean break and progress on some of its issues.

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