Russian ambassador requests Saturday meeting

A brief plenary meeting of the Conference on Disarmament (CD) met today, at which Ambassador Valery Loschinin of the Russian Federation asked the current president and the CD Secretary-General if it is possible to organise a plenary meeting on Saturday, 7 March to hear an address from the Russian Foreign Minister. The minister's schedule only allows him to address the Conference on Saturday morning. Sergei Ordzhonikidze, Secretary-General of the CD and Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva, agreed to make the necessary arrangements and said that the Secretariat would inform delegations of the timing and the venue of the plenary. He also emphasized that it would not cost the CD any additional money, since the Conference has not used its whole budget for several years, suggesting there is money available for the CD to try new and innovative things this year.

The next plenary meeting is scheduled to be held on Thursday, 26 February 2009.

- Ray Acheson, Reaching Critical Will of WILPF