CONFERENCE ON DISARMAMENT HEARS STATEMENT BY AUSTRALIA IN SUPPORT OF STARTING NEGOTIATIONS ON A FMCT
Morocco Makes Concluding Remarks as Outgoing President of the Conference

The Conference on Disarmament today heard Australia address the issue of a Fissile Material Cut-Off Treaty as well as concluding remarks from Morocco, the outgoing President of the Conference.

Australia welcomed the statement made by the United States on 29 July reaffirming its support for a Fissile Material Cut-Off Treaty (FMCT). Australia remained a strong supporter of a FMCT and hoped the United States’ statement would generate new momentum for a start to negotiations. With regards to the United States’ concern about how effective FMCT verification was achievable, Australia believed that the first objective was securing a start to FMCT negotiations so that verification and other issues could be taken forward. It defied credibility that the widely held aspiration for a FMCT continued to be frustrated by the Conference’s failure to agree on a work programme.

After Australia’s statement, the Conference held an informal plenary to discuss methodology of the programme of work. The public plenary was then resumed to allow the outgoing President of the Conference, Ambassador Omar Hilale of Morocco, to make concluding remarks.

Ambassador Hilale said that his final observation was an appeal for pragmatism and real politics in order to end the long impasse affecting the work of the Conference. At a time when nuclear stockpiles were growing, militarization of outer space was continuing unchecked, and weapons of mass destruction continued to proliferate, the expectations of the world were more urgent than ever, yet the Conference was hopelessly unable to overcome its problems. He invited the Conference learn from its failures, study its past successes where success had been the result of respecting priorities without preconditions, and ending the stalemate which was a result of the sterile approach of all or nothing. The future of the Conference was a stake and the choices were between remaining petrified and frozen or dynamic compromise.

Syria also made a brief intervention.

The next plenary of the Conference will be held at 10 a.m. on Thursday, 19 August under the Presidency of Ambassador Mya Than of Myanmar. It will be followed by an informal plenary during which the Ambassador of the Netherlands will introduce a book by Ambassador Jaap Ramakar, the last Chairman of the Ad Hoc Committee on Nuclear Test Bans entitled “The Final Test. A History of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Negotiations”.

Statements

MIKE SMITH (Australia) said Australia welcomed any initiative which would get the Conference on Disarmament back to work. It was in no doubt that seven years of inaction had badly damaged the standing and integrity of the Conference and was raising fundamental questions about its future. Australia would support any proposal for a work programme capable of attracting the support of all members of the Conference.

Ambassador Smith said Australia welcomed the statement made by the United States on 29 July reaffirming its support for a Fissile Material Cut-Off Treaty (FMCT). Australia remained a strong supporter of FMCT and hoped the United States statement would generate new momentum for a start to negotiations. Concerning the United States concern about how effective FMCT verification was achievable, Australia’s position was that the form of FMCT verification would be among the matters to be negotiated. Australia had advanced the focused approach for FMCT verification which could be both effective and cost-efficient. Under this method, verification measures would apply to fissile material produced after the treaty’s entry into force, and to the facilities that produced fissile material. However, the first objective was securing a start to FMCT negotiations so that verification and other issues could be taken forward. It defied credibility that the widely held aspiration for a FMCT continued to be frustrated by the Conference’s failure to agree on a work programme.

OMAR HILALE (Morocco), outgoing President of the Conference on Disarmament, said he would like to make concluding remarks at the end of Morocco’s Presidency of the Conference. First of all, the informal plenary on transparency in armaments had concluded the informal plenaries on the seven items of the programme of the Conference. These meetings had given rise to a fruitful debate and a better understanding of the respective positions of delegations.

Ambassador Hilale recalled that in his remarks at the beginning of Morocco’s Presidency of the Conference, he had submitted proposals for the better use of the informal plenaries in order to achieve a breakthrough on the programme of work which had been sorely missing for the past eight years. His proposals had been the subject of marathon consultations among the delegations and had been crowned with success. The first proposal had been to meet in an informal plenary to discuss “new and additional issues related to the agenda of the Conference on Disarmament”. This meeting was the first such meeting in the history of the Conference and was successful, in view of the 19 speakers and the richness of the debate. He hoped that such meetings would continue to be held to allow the Conference to provide appropriate responses to the positions and questions of its Member States.

His second proposal concerned informal plenaries on “methodology of the programme of work” which were held on 10 August and this morning. The answers of States to his questionnaire had been clear and frank. He welcomed the 30 speakers who took part in the inter-active debate. However, it was premature to make any comments on the meetings. He urged that any openings which might have been seen during these exchanges should be fully used to focus on a common denominator and to single out disagreements. He was fully convinced that the Members of the Conference remained devoted to the role of the Conference as the world’s sole multilateral forum for disarmament negotiations. It was only the priorities and the readiness for negotiations which were subject to different opinions, but he did not think this was insurmountable.

Ambassador Hilale said that Morocco had also held the Presidency of the Conference when the United States had offered its proposal on a Fissile Material Cut-Off Treat and anti-personnel landmines. He welcomed the proposal and said the Conference was waiting with interest and optimism for the arrival of the group of experts who were coming to Geneva to speak more about the proposal. On the Five Ambassadors proposal, Ambassador Hilale said this initiative had great support and understanding and was an excellent base for the work of the Conference. A number of delegations had a problem in the linkage between its issues.

In conclusion, Ambassador Hilale said that his final observation was an appeal for pragmatism and real politics in order to end the long impasse affecting the work of the Conference. At a time when nuclear stockpiles were growing, militarization of outer space was continuing unchecked, and weapons of mass destruction continued to proliferate, the expectations of the world were more urgent than ever, yet the Conference was hopelessly unable to overcome its problems. He invited the Conference to learn from its failures, study its past successes where success had been the result of respecting priorities without preconditions, and end the stalemate which was a result of the sterile approach of all or nothing. The future of the Conference was at stake and the choices were between remaining petrified and frozen or dynamic compromise.

HUSSEIN ALI (Syria) said even though it was not the norm to comment on the President’s statements, he would like to make a comment about what Ambassador Hilale had said about real politics. He believed that the international framework and the United Nations were established to put an end to practices based on real politics, and he found that the President’s call for real politics were a call to dissolve the United Nations and the Conference on Disarmament. He hoped that the President would review his use of the word real politics.

OMAR HILALE (Morocco), President of the Conference, said that traditionally, Conference Members did not make comments on the statements of the President, just like the President never interfered with what the delegations said. He reiterated and reaffirmed his call for realism in the work of the Conference. Morocco believed that the Conference would never find its mandate as the sole multilateral forum for disarmament negotiations unless it took a realistic stance. The President’s comments should be respected.

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