Transcribed Statement of the Ambassador of Cuba,
Mr. Carlos Amat Forés, President of the CD

According to the Secretariat there is no speaker inscribed on the list for today. I would therefore briefly outline to you the results of my consultations with several delegations.

In our capacity as President we have continued an intensive process of discussions, trying to cover a wide range of delegations from the various groups comprising the Conference. It is our intention to continue this endeavor-carrying out consultations during this week and the next week. And the preliminary comments that we are in a position to make on the basis of the information that we have been receiving and the exchanges of views that we have been having are as follows.

First of all we have observed broad indications from support from all the delegations with whom we have held discussions for the efforts being carried out by the President to find a common denominator that could make it possible to overcome the stalemate, which we have been facing regarding the substantive items on our program of work. We welcome the support and we have been encouraged to continue with our efforts. With that backing we have been exploring all the possibilities within our reach-trying to find approaches that would enable us if not to resolve the problem in its entirety-at least to make some steps forward however small that would open up the road to progress and create conditions that are conducive for attaining a consensus on the program of work.

Nonetheless, the discussions that we have had, have reaffirmed that events outside of the Conference-in particular the current strategic and security scenario at the international level have a negative impact and influence on this forum far more so than the majority of us would wish. There is a high level of expectations regarding the possible implications for the work of the Conference that the current dynamic of international events might have. At the same time the majority of the delegations would prepare to be inclined to think that prospects for the immediate future of the Conference are not very encouraging. Also, there has been a view widely shared by delegations that one element of additional difficulty is the limited time remaining for the annual sessions of the Conference and this undermines efforts to advance with respect to substantive issues on the program of work. In this difficult situation an encouraging sign has been the wish of delegations to maintain the credibility of the Conference and its existence as the sole multilateral negotiating forum for all matters and treaties relating to disarmament. Even though at present the real possibilities of advancing and reaching a consensus regarding the program of work are very limited, the majority of delegations have emphasized the need to maintain what we have referred to as the Amorim proposal as the basis for continuing consultations. It is recognized that that proposal constitutes the summing up of a series of efforts made by members of the Conference and its successive Presidents with a view to attaining consensus.

The intention of this President thus far has been to keep this proposal intact unless in the next few days we were to see clear signals of real possibilities of advancing by changing it in some way. Also, during the consultations we have noted our support from delegations for the work of the three Special Coordinators appointed during the Presidency of the Ambassador of Colombia, Ambassador Camilo Reyes and preparedness to continue with that work. Many delegations are of the view that the appointment of these Special Coordinators constitutes a positive sign and a means of keeping the Conference active until such time that we have managed to overcome the current stalemate relating to the substantive items. It is important to highlight the fact that while we consider the work being done by the Special Coordinators to be most useful, there is broad awareness among delegations of the need to move forward on the substantive items that in the final analysis constitute the main raison d'etre of this body.

In open as well as informal consultations held last Thursday at the request of the Special Coordinator on Improved and Effective Functioning of the Conference. the distinguished Ambassador of Sri Lanka, Ambassador Prasad Kariyawasam, we noted that there was very active participation of delegations and that meeting in our opinion was a clear indication of the need to have reasonable time to continue the process of discussion that was recently started on the three items allocated to the Special Coordinators and possibly to reach consensual agreements. In this connection we are exploring the level of acceptance of the possibility of recommending that the mandate of the Special Coordinators would be continued during the session for the period 2002. If our research yields positive results we would proceed to make recommendations to that effect until the next President, who as everyone is aware will be from Ecuador, the report of the session would be covered. These then are our observations regarding the consultations that we have conducted.