29 March 2007

At the Conference on Disarmament (CD) plenary meeting this morning, Sri Lanka announced that today it would not be possible to take the decision on the six Presidents' proposal for work, without further explanation. Ambassador Fernando's announcement immediately followed an informal session to determine if the CD was ready to take the decision, at which China and the Arab Group reportedly stated that they were not yet able to do so. The CD will hold another plenary session tomorrow morning, March 30, at 10am, and will hopefully be able to decide then. Before breaking into the informal session, Sri Lanka had clarified that after the CD adopts the decision and establishes a schedule of activities, the proposal will "for all practical purposes constitute a programme of work", and that the Coordinators' functions will be "comparable to those of a subsidiary body."

While China has been showing resistance to the proposal, the statement from the Arab Group came as a relative surprise, not least because the Arab Group does not exist as a CD group, and therefore does not traditionally make statements to the CD. Moreover, Syria, one of the six Presidents, is a member of the Arab Group. Some members of the Arab Group have been wary of the Presidents' intentions, which Romania noted today was "ominously signaled" by questioning the proposal's conformity with CD rules of procedure. Presumably these governments would trust Syria with their questions and concerns.

Some CD delegations showed frustration with the delaying the decision, which China did not appreciate. The Netherlands asked if circumstances would really change next week or next month, and said that delaying the decision would benefit no one. China responded that some governments may need a longer time to take the decision, and objected to any challenges or doubts raised on this issue.

Venezuela, Belarus, and the Ukraine went on record this morning supporting the proposal, bringing the total number of CD member states that have now said publicly that they would support, or not oppose, the proposal, to 28, not including the six Presidents that put it forward. Venezuela said it thought the proposal would make it possible to take a number of steps towards disarmament and non-proliferation.

We expect the CD will be able to take this decision tomorrow. The basic elements of this proposal have been on the table for years, the CD has been working towards this goal for months, and governments should have a good idea of their positions on these issues. We also hope, as Romania said today, "that the states that are not ready to compromise today [or tomorrow] will take the full responsibility for their actions".