Transcribed Statement of the Ambassador of France
Mr. Hubert de la Fortelle 15/3/01

Thank you Mr. President. Mr. President, at the CD plenary, which was held on the 8th of February, my colleague and friend, Ambassador Christian Faessler, announced the holding of a Franco-Swiss seminar on the traceability of small arms and light weapons covering tracing, marking and registration. As many delegates know, since they took part themselves in that event, the seminar was held here in Geneva on the 12th and 13th of March, last Monday and Tuesday. Over 200 representatives from 90 states were present. The event was also attended by representatives of the United Nations, other international organizations, technical experts and representatives of NonGovernmental Organizations. Ambassador Dos Santos, the Chairman of the Preparatory Committee for the United Nations Conference on the Illicit Trafficking of Small Arms and Light Weapons in all its aspects, which will be held in New York in July this year, also took active part in the work. The discussion covered technical aspects relating to the tracing, marking and registering of small arms and light weapons and also dealt with a more juridical, legal, political approach, which might lead to the negotiation of an international agreement on the subject. A chairman's summary has been made available to participants from participating delegations. We would like to request that the text be published as an official CD document and distributed to all states that are members of the Conference and to states, which take part in our work without being members. I wouldn't like to finish this short statement Monsieur, without wishing our Hungarian colleague, Ambassador Joó, much professional satisfaction in his high level position in UNESCO, but also maybe in particular, much personal happiness during his stay in Paris.