Revised draft report circulated

On Tuesday morning, the Conference on Disarmament (CD) met for a brief plenary meeting to which the ambassador of Turkey delivered a short intervention on the draft report of the Conference. The CD president then called for an informal meeting to discuss the revised version of the draft report.

Draft report
Ambassador Ahmet Uzümcü of Turkey described the draft report as factual and well-balanced. He noted, however, that there may be “certain amendments that would accommodate the concerns of certain countries.” He emphasized the importance of maintaining the momentum in the CD and embarking “on a different phase” early next year.

The CD president, Ambassador Christian Strohal of Austria, indicated that a revised version of the draft report had been circulated last Wednesday. He expressed hope that that the CD could meet for a plenary on Thursday to adopt the report and conclude the 2009 session.

Work of the CD
Turkey’s Ambassador Uzümcü urged the commencement of negotiations on a fissile materials cut-off treaty and entry into force of theComprehensive Test Ban Treaty as a potential “catalyst” for a successful 2010 nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference. He noted that progress in the CD “will not only provide the much needed impetus in the NPT regime, but will also have wider implications for other multilateral disarmament activities within the UN or elsewhere.”

Next meeting
The next plenary meeting will probably be Thursday, 17 September 2009 at 10:00 AM.

- Ray Acheson, Reaching Critical Will of WILPF