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Concluding plenary of the Chinese presidency

Beatrice Fihn | Reaching Critical Will

The Conference on Disarmament (CD) met on Thursday, 26 May for the final plenary meeting under the Chinese presidency. Statements were delivered by the Informal Group of Observer States (IGOS), Colombia, Kazakhstan, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Pakistan, Egypt, Iran, Chile, France, Algeria, the Republic of Korea, Germany, Morocco, Bangladesh, the United States, the Netherlands, and Japan.

Highlights

  • Outgoing CD President, Ambassador Qun of China, delivered his concluding remarks and emphasized that while no programme of work had been adopted, CD/1864 is a good basis for future dicussions.
  • The US delegation shared the analysis made by the newly appointed Secretary-General on Tuesday about the crossroads that the CD is facing. Mr. Reid argued that delegations must consider efforts to either make a new beginning or “face alternatives”.  
  • Incoming CD President Ambassador Arango of Colombia called for the CD to carry out a critical self-assessment and decide on a future course of action.
  • Ambassador van den IJssel of the Netherlands reported that Mozambique has ratified the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention, becoming the 164th state party to this treaty.
  • The Japanese delegation announced that it will host the third round of fissile material cut-off treaty side-event meetings next week together with Australia, this time focusing on verification.

The future of the CD
Ambassador Qun noted that through his consultations and work during his presidency, all countries “have demonstrated a stronger political will” and “worked to safeguard the CD’s authority and position.” Ambassador Qun admitted that no “extraordinary” achievement has been registered and highlighted the difficulties that the CD is facing. He argued that although it might not be difficult for fissile material cut-off treaty (FMCT) negotiations to move out of the CD, it would still be “difficult for any new or alternative mechanism to replace the role and have the same effect as the CD.” Ambassador Qun argued that in order to break the CD deadlock, the right perception and working methods are crucial. He reiterated that CD/1864 was a good basis for a programme of work and argued that there had been constructive and serious work at the CD on FMCT on the part of all delegations. He expressed confidence that as long as all parties work together to strengthen confidence and trust, delegations will be able to “see the light of the CD tunnel and restore the CD’s glory.”

Mr. Reid of the US delegation expressed appreciation of the statement delivered on Tuesday by the new Secretary-General of the CD, Mr. Tokayev. Mr. Reid noted that the Secretary-General had highlighted the true crossroads at which the CD currently finds itself and argued that within this context, it is important to make efforts to “make a new beginning for this institution or face alternatives overwhelming us.”

Ambassador Arango of Colombia, who will take over the Presidency of the CD next week, noted that the “patience of the international community is now wearing thin” and that the world will measure the efficiency and relevance of the CD by its ability to generate substantive results. For this reason, she believes that the time has come to think about how delegations envisage the future of the CD. Ambassador Arango argued, “before other bodies take decisions for us or give their views about our competence, we need to carry out a critical self-assessment and decide on the future course of action, relevant actions which will enable us to have a strengthened conference which complies with its mandate.”

Side events on the FMCT
Ambassador Suda of Japan announced that Australia and Japan will co-host the third round of the FMCT side-event meetings next week. This third round of meetings will focus on a technical discussion of verification of a future treaty. Ambassador Suda reminded delegations that the purpose of these side events is to support the discussion and the negotiations expected to be taking place in the CD in the near future, “without prejudices towards any political positions of any participant state.”

Mozambique joins Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC)
President-designate of the 7th Review Conference of the BTWC, Ambassador Paul van den IJssel of the Netherlands, reported that Mozambique has ratified the BTWC and become the 164 state party to this treaty. He congratulated Mozambique on this important step and hoped that all states in and outside the CD that are not yet parties to the BTWC would follow this example as soon as possible.

Next plenary meeting
The next plenary meeting will be held on Wednesday, 1 June at 10:00