Reaching Critical Will

Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT)

Conference on Disarmament

General Assembly First Committee

UN Disarmament Commission

Special Session on Disarmament

Statement by Ambassador Don MacKay of New Zealand to the Conference on Disarmament 24th June 2008

Unofficial Transcript

Thank you very much indeed Madame President and could I okay the comments made by other colleagues congratulating you on the assumption of the Chair. We very much look forward to working with you as we have with other colleagues who have assumed the Presidency during the course of the year. I wanted to take up a couple of the points that have arisen during this morning’s discussion and I think we have had a very good discussion on a range of things this morning.

First of all, I would like to thank you for the proposal you made in your statement that we recommence informal discussions on the core issues and certainly we would be very happy to see that happen. We think that anything, to use your words Madame President, helps refresh all the issues in members mind will actually remind all of us that the issues before us can only be positive. And certainly if it goes further and helps gain consensus on CD/1840 then that too will be invaluable. It is also important obviously as you note that we at this stage keep very much in our minds the nature of the final report that CD will be presenting as the result of deliberations during the course of this year.

We noted the proposal by our distinguished Russian colleague supported by our distinguished Chinese Colleague that in the event that there is some spillover of discussion and it is not possible to complete discussion in a particular session there should be room to spill over for example into a side event or some other arrangement and we think that it is a very good idea and clearly we would not want to cut discussion short at this stage. I think it is apparent to all of us that until we actually begin negotiation, states are not actually willing or able, in the case of many states, to provide the resources that are sort of required to have a fully fledged discussion of any of these items. Having said that, I think we have seen some very good discussion of them in the past, and as I said your proposal I think is a very sound one that we would very much support.

The second comment that I wanted to make relates to CD/1840 and a number of colleagues referred to that in their interventions this morning. We would certainly support your comments and your urging that colleagues more forward to reach a consensus on the basis of CD 1840. As you say, it does not suit everyone’s interest and in our view too, it’s the best basis for advancing our work in the CD. And although our distinguished colleague from China noted, that it is quite late in the day to agree on a work program, it is actually never too late to agree on a work program and we would very much echo the comments that have been made here with regards to CD 1840.

As far as our own national position is concerned, we would also be very happy to commence negotiation on any of the core items that are before the CD. We would be very happy to commence negotiations on any of them as a non nuclear weapon state and a state that has taken a very strong position on nuclear weapons, we would particularly wish to see negotiations commence on nuclear disarmament but having said that, we acknowledge that is necessary to start somewhere and while it is certainly true as our distinguished colleague from Sri Lanka said, there are many different views within the CD on precisely what our work program should contain, we do have to begin in our view with one of the core elements.

The reality is that no delegation here is in a position to begin serious negotiations on all of the core issues before the CD. That is simply not a practical proposition. And If you look at the last major triumph of the CD and it was a major triumph unfortunately it was a long time ago, the last major triumph of the CD was the Convention on Chemical Weapons. The CD at that time did not attempt to negotiation on the Convention on Chemical Weapons and one or two or three other issues at the same time, that would have simply not have happened. And if we try to do it, in the case of the convention of Chemical Weapons, we would not have got a Chemical Weapons Convention and the international community would be that much the poorer and we would all be that much the poorer and all of our national security would be that much the weaker.

So again I go back that we need to start somewhere and I think it is clear from the comments that have been made, not only this year but also previously that the item that offers the greatest prospects of forward movement is FMCT as identified in CD 1840.

Now I think that sometimes colleagues, and we all do this, we make a mistake at looking at an FMCT in isolation. Going back to my earlier comments, as a very strongly committed non nuclear state, a state that is strongly committed to nuclear disarmament - we would like to see, we want to see, my instructions from my Capital to see - progress on nuclear disarmament. We believe that an FMCT would contribute to nuclear disarmament. We believe that the more comprehensive an FMCT is, the more will contribute to nuclear disarmament, We would like to see therefore, verification, we would like to see existing stocks contained in such a treaty on FMCT. But what we don’t expect is for everyone to agree in advance on the contains of an FMCT. When we begin negotiations, we will certainly argue vigorously and present very strong arguments in favor of inclusion of verification and existing stocks. But it will not be realistic in our view, before we commence negotiations for everyone in this room to sit down and set out what an FMCT should contain. That is the outcome of the negotiation. It is not something that you determine in the advance of the negotiation.

Could I then move on to the third point which also links through neatly to nuclear disarmament and that is the statement made by our distinguished colleagues from Australia and Japan with regard to the initiative that is being taken for a new international commission on nuclear proliferation and nuclear disarmament. Again this is something that we very much welcome, we see considerable prospects for a commission of this sort building on the Canberra Commission, the Tokyo Commission and other recent work that has been done including obviously the Blix commission and work that has been done under the auspices of the Secretary General to address this extremely important item for the both the non proliferation and nuclear disarmament perspective. Certainly as we and other colleagues have said in the NPT PrepComs, as we move into the lead up to the 2010 Review Conference, there is a pressing need to develop a common approach in the lead up to the Review Conference and I think it is very clear and it would be very clear to all of us, what is needed also is high level cross regional leadership. We very much welcome the announcement by Australia and Japan which will undoubtedly take us further in providing not only fresh thinking but also that cross regional leadership and we want to thank our Australian colleagues for the indications given that wide consultations will be carried out as the process continues.

Finally as the announcements I wanted to welcome, our distinguished colleague from France with regards to transparency and confidence building measures that his government is taking and the invitation issued to state members of the CD to participate in that. I think one of the clearly themes again that came through from the NPT Preparatory Conferences and also the discussions we’ve had in here in the CD, in formal discussions, for example in nuclear disarmament that transparency and confidence building measures can play a pivotal role in helping contribute to a nuclear disarmament. And the statement is the same made by the distinguished representative of France, inspection inviting transparency with regard to the destruction of fissile material; this will be an important part of that.

Once again thank you very much Madame President for your proposals which we have no doubt, will lay the ground for further very good discussion in the CD.

Thank you.