Still no consensus

During a brief plenary meeting Monday morning, the current CD president, Ambassador Millar of Australia, informed the Conference that consensus on the framework for implementing the programme of work is still not possible. Ambassador Millar said that if the situation changes, she will convene another plenary meeting, but if it does not she will call a final meeting under the Australian presidency on Thursday.

The Chinese ambassador commended Ambassador Millar for her efforts, “especially in promoting the agreement by all parties on the programme of work and the open and transparent consultations conducted for that purpose.” The representative of Iran also thanked Ambassador Millar and the other CD presidents. He noted that the Iranian delegation supports the efforts of the CD president to bring the Conference to consensus on the framework for implementation, CD/1870/Rev.1, and asked her to continue with her consultations.

Other news
At the beginning of the meeting, Ambassador Millar bid farewell to Ambassador Anton Pinter from Slovakia and wished him luck in the future.

The next plenary meeting is scheduled for Thursday, 20 August at 10:00 AM.

The United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR) and the International Panel on Fissile Materials are organizing a session on Friday morning in the CD chamber to discuss “The Scope and Verification of a Fissile Material (Cutoff) Treaty”.

- Ray Acheson, Reaching Critical Will of WILPF