Italy assumes CD presidency
Viola Giuliano | Reaching Critical Will
18 February 2014
The Conference on Disarmament (CD) met on Tuesday 18 February where the incoming CD President, Ambassador Vinicio Mati of Italy delivered a statement outlining his priorities for the four weeks ahead. In addition, the delegations of Cuba, Venezuela, Egypt, Mexico, Tunisia, and Kenya also took the floor.
- The new CD President, Ambassador Vinicio Mati of Italy, assured states members that the continuity of the realism and the pragmatism expressed by his predecessor, will be maintained. He urged member states to adopt ‘a certain amount of flexibility’ for getting the CD back on track.
- The CD President highlighted the so called ‘dual track approach’. It entails the renewal of the mandate of the IWG as well as a schedule of activities based on the proposal circulated by the P6 last week. Tunisia expressed its support for this option, while Egypt confirmed its support to discuss the text for the reestablishment of the IWG.
- Ambassador Lomónaco of Mexico underlined the importance of the Second Conference on Humanitarian Consequence of Nuclear Weapons. 146 governments, eight UN agencies the International Committee of the Red Cross, the Red Cross and Red Crescent movement and civil society organizations had participated in the meeting that took place 13-14 February in Nayarit, Mexico. Ambassador Lomónaco requested the Secretariat to distribute the Chair’s summary as an official document of the CD.
- Egypt and Mexico stated that the understanding of the consequences of the use of nuclear weapons should be at the heart of any future nuclear disarmament efforts. They also welcomed Austria’s announcement to host the next Conference before the end of 2014 and expressed the hope the nuclear weapon states will attend it.
- Cuba, Egypt, Venezuela, called for ‘further work to come up, in the shortest time possible, with a legally binding instrument on negative security assurances’ for nuclear armed states.
- Cuba and Venezuela reported that during the Second CELAC Summit, held in Havana on 28-29 January 2014, Latin American and Caribbean countries proclaimed their region as a Zone of Peace based on principles of sovereignty, equal rights and self-determination of people. During the Summit, CELAC also adopted the Special Declaration on Nuclear Disarmament.
Next plenary meeting
The next meeting will be held on Tuesday, 25 February at 10:00 in the Council Camber.