The United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs, through its Regional Centre for Peace and Disarmament in Asia and the Pacific, located in Nepal, is organizing a regional seminar entitled “Enhancing International and Regional Cooperation to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate Illicit Brokering in Small Arms and Light Weapons in South Asia and Central Asia”, to be held in Kathmandu, the Nepalese capital, on 17-18 June.

A United Nations meeting on the Programme of Action to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All its Aspects for States of the Pacific region will be held on 22 and 23 June in Sydney, Australia.

A regional workshop on implementation of Security Council resolution 1540 (2004) will be held on 23-25 June in Colombo, Sri Lanka. The workshop is jointly organized by Sri Lanka and the United States, in cooperation with the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs.

To mark the start of the second half of the Secretary-General’s 100-day “WMD-We Must Disarm” countdown campaign to the International Day of Peace on 21 September, the United Nations has launched a competition to find the best short film on the issue of nuclear disarmament and/or non-proliferation.

The Eighth United Nations-Republic of Korea Joint Conference on Disarmament and Non-proliferation Issues will take place in Jeju Island, Republic of Korea, from 16 to 18 November.

A regional workshop to be held in Nairobi, Kenya, from 2 to 4 February will aim to promote the building of national- and regional-level capacity to advance full implementation of Security Council resolution 1540 (2004).

The United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs through its Regional Centre for Peace and Disarmament in Asia and the Pacific located in Kathmandu, Nepal, is organizing a seminar entitled “Enhancing International and Regional Cooperation to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate Illicit Brokering in Small Arms and Light Weapons in East and South-East Asia”, in Bangkok, Thailand, on 18-19 February.

The United Nations Disarmament Commission, ahead of its 2010 substantive session slated for 29 March to 16 April, today elected Jean-Francis Régis Zinsou (Benin) as Chair, who urged that members “look at the future with a positive spirit”.

Although the Disarmament Commission had not been able to agree on elements of a draft declaration of the 2010s as the fourth disarmament decade -- the Commission’s main task this year -- a good basis for next year’s deliberations had been achieved, Commission Chairman Andrzej Towpik (Poland) told delegates today at the closing of its 2009 substantive session.