Speech - Bulgaria, March 20, 2003

Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT)

Conference on Disarmament

General Assembly First Committee

UN Disarmament Commission

Special Session on Disarmament

MISSION PERMANENTE DE LA REPUBLIQUE DE BULGARIE AUPRES DE L’ONU ET LES AUTRES organizationS
INTERNATIONALES A GENEVE
PERMANENT MISSION OF THE REPUBLIC OF BULGARIA TO THE UN AND TO THE OTHER INTERNATIONAL organizationS IN GENEVA

STATEMENT
By H.E. Mr. Dimiter Tzantchev,
Ambassador, Permanent Representative of the Republic of Bulgaria
Geneva, March 20, 2003

Madame President,
At the outset, please allow me to extend my warmest congratulations and personal satisfaction on your assumption of the Presidency of the Conference on Disarmament. Let me also extend my appreciation to your predecessors – the ambassadors of India and Indonesia, for their efforts. I am fully confident that under your wise guidance and determination the CD has as good a chance as any to overcome its present deadlock and meet the responsibilities entrusted upon it by the international community as the sole forum for negotiating international arms control and disarmament treaties. At this important juncture, let me assure you, Madame President, that in carrying out your term of service you can count on my delegation’s continued cooperation and support.

Madame President,
Indeed, we often use to say that the CD has the primary role in the negotiation of multilateral agreements in the field of disarmament, arms control and non-proliferation. Since its establishment by the UNGA First Special Session on Disarmament the CD has proved that it is capable of producing valuable arms control and disarmament agreements when Member States have the political will. However, since 1999 the Conference has been unable to effectively launch any substantive work. My delegation fully shares the feelings of frustration expressed by many delegations at the lack of any break out of its prolonged impasse. We regret that various valuable efforts to resolve the present CD deadlock have not been successful.

Against this background, I would like to add today my delegation’s voice to those delegations that have expressed their full support for the cross-regional group initiative of Ambassadors Dembri, Lint, Reyes, Salander and Vega. Building on their good faith, professionalism, collective wisdom and considerable experience, the five ambassadors have presented at the beginning of this year an initiative, which is a ready-to-be-used tool, provided that there is sufficient political will to do so. We highly appreciate the flexibility of this initiative, its evolving character since it is open to new ideas as well as its timely official formalization. We support the A-5 proposal and are ready to begin immediately its implementation.

This delegation considers that if we are really frank in our willingness to endow this body with the authority to exercise the leadership which is its due in disarmament affairs and to make it an effective negotiating structure than the 5 Ambassadors initiative gives us a good opportunity to prove that.

Madame President,
At the CCW Second Review Conference in December 2001 the States Parties took the important step of amending Article I of the Convention thus extending its scope of application to non-international armed conflicts. Bulgaria welcomes this important step which addresses a vital humanitarian need since non-international conflicts count today for the majority of the armed conflicts in general.

Today I am pleased to announce that on January 22, 2003, Bulgaria ratified the amendment to Article 1, with the instrument of ratification been deposited on February 28 in New York. I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate those CCW States Parties that have already ratified this amendment and would urge all other States Parties to undertake the necessary steps to adhere to the Amended Article I as soon as possible

Finally, Madame President, I would like to join my distinguish colleague, Ambassador Lint of Belgium, in congratulating Turkey for the successful ratification of the Ottawa Treaty. Thank you for your attention!