CONFERENCE ON DISARMAMENT CONCLUDES 2005 SESSION

Round-Up of Session

CONFERENCE ON DISARMAMENT CONCLUDES 2005 SESSION

(Reissued as received.)

GENEVA, 22 September (UN Information Service) -- The Conference on Disarmament, the world's sole multilateral forum for disarmament negotiations, today concluded the third and last part of its 2005 session after adopting its annual report.

In its report, which will be presented to the General Assembly at its present session, the Conference noted that during the annual session, successive Presidents of the Conference had conducted intensive consultations and had made significant efforts with a view to reaching consensus on a programme of work.  A number of informal proposals related to a programme of work had been put forward.  In spite of the efforts of the Presidents, the Conference was not able to agree on a programme of work and did not re-establish or establish any mechanism on any of its specific agenda items during the 2005 session.

The Conference on Disarmament works by consensus and cannot undertake new work without the agreement of all its Member States.  This is the seventh year that the Conference has been unable to agree on its programme of work and to start substantive work.  The Presidents of the Conference, who hold the presidency for four-week rotating periods, held consultations and made a number of proposals, but none was able to bridge the gap between the positions of the Member States.  Many blamed the lack of political will by Member States for the stalemate which has triggered questions on the continued viability of the Conference.

At the instigation of Ambassador Wegger Strommen of Norway when he held the presidency, the Conference held four formal plenary meetings on matters related to nuclear disarmament; fissile material cut-off; outer space; and security assurances, the four most contentious subjects on the agenda.  At the end of this exercise, Ambassador Strommen said the national views of a great number of Government were now on record in a systematic manner and the records now showed that there was a strong interest in addressing the real substantive issues which was how it should be at a time when the international community was confronted with new and increasingly dangerous security.

In his concluding statement, the Acting President of the Conference, Felix Calderon of Peru, said the adoption of the annual report was a source of satisfaction.  Everyone was determined to continue to move forward.  When he said success, it had to be measured.  It was a meagre source of comfort to see that the Conference had a final report which contained within it the problem that the Conference had been unable to come up with a consensus on the programme of work.  Therefore, the satisfaction the Conference felt must be mixed.

Mr. Calderon said that he would hold an open-ended meeting on 13 December for all States to inform them of the results of the consultations which he would undertake during the intercessional period and to present any recommendations that had been reached.  This would take place in cooperation with the Ambassador of Poland, the next President of the Conference.  During 2006, the presidency would also be held by the Republic of Korea, Romania, Russian Federation, Senegal and Slovakia.

Kofi Annan, Secretary-General of the United Nations, in his message to the Conference at the opening of its 2005 session, said there were renewed hopes of overcoming the impasse that had impeded the work of the Conference for so long.  He noted that disarmament was critical for conflict prevention, peacebuilding and the realization of the Millennium Development Goals.

The following dignitaries addressed the Conference during its 2005 session:  Pierre Pettigrew, the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Canada; Manuel Rodriguez-Cuadros, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Peru; Erkki Tumoioja, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Finland; Bernard Bot, Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands, Laila Freivalds, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Sweden; Borys Tarasyuk, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine; Kassymzhomart Tokayev, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan; Eduard Kukan, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Slovakia; Itsunori Onodera; Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs of Japan; Adam Daniel Rotfeld, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Poland.

The Conference decided that the dates for the three parts of its 2006 session will be from 23 January to 31 March for the first part; 15 May to 30 June for the second part; and 31 July to 15 September for the third part.

* *** *

For information media • not an official record