Transcribed Statement of the Ambassador of Belgium
Mr. Jean Lint 23/8/01

Mr. President, first of all I would like to congratulate you on your elevation to the post of President of the Conference on Disarmament. You may be sure that you can count on the full cooperation of Belgium in your new functions. I am taking the floor to announce that as co- Chairmen of the Committee on the General State and Functioning of the Convention on the Prohibition on Anti-Personnel Landmines, Zimbabwe and Belgium in cooperation with Nicaragua be organizing an information meeting on the Third Conference of States Parties to be held in Managua from the 18th to the 21st of September 2001. The information meeting will be held on the 29th of August from 2-3 in the afternoon, Room VII of the Palais de Nations. All delegations are invited to attend. On that occasion they will receive all documents of the Conference, which are at present available. I take advantage of this opportunity to tell you 118 states have ratified or acceded to the Convention and 140 states have signed, ratified or acceded to it. Belgium encourages all states who are not yet parties to the Convention to ratify it or accede to it as soon as possible.

Thank you Mr. President