Reaching Critical Will

Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT)

Conference on Disarmament

General Assembly First Committee

UN Disarmament Commission

Special Session on Disarmament

Unofficial transcript
Turkey, Ambassador Ahmet Uzümcü
September 15, 2009

Mr. President, while I am taking the floor, I take the opportunity to congratulate you for assuming the Presidency of the CD. My delegation would like to extend every possible support to your tenure.

Mr. President, we regret to see that the CD has not been functioning effectively for many years. In May of this year, when we adopted the Programme of Work, we thought that we had achieved a real breakthrough which in our view should pave the way for real negotiations in the months ahead. Now we need flexibility by all to carry the process forward and to bring the Conference back to this fundamental role in promoting global peace and security as an arms control negotiating forum. We have examined the draft report to be submitted to the first committee. We believe that it is a factual and a well balanced report. There may, of course, be certain amendments that would accommodate the concerns of certain countries. However, we believe that our main focus should be to keep the momentum in the CD and embark on a different phase early next year. This is particularly important in the year of the NPT 2010 Review Conference.

The constructive atmosphere in the prepcom in May this year was very promising and the current international environment is more favourable than ever for advancement of multilateral arms control and disarmament. We all avail ourselves of these opportunities. We believe that the commencement of negotiations on FMCT, the entry into force of the CTBT and hopefully a follow – up to step one, all of which stand among the 13 practical steps of 2000, could play a catalyst role for a successful outcome in 2010. The recent events have reaffirmed the significance of the CTBT.

On this occasion I would like to stress the importance that my country attaches to the CTB Treaty which was successful negotiated here at this body. The CD is able to play a historic role at this juncture provided that it is a spirit of compromise and flexibility is there. Progress in our work here will not only provide the much needed impetus in the NPT regime, but we also have wider implications for other multilateral disarmament activities within the UN or elsewhere.

I thank you, Mr. President.