June 17, 2005

The incoming President of the Conference on Disarmament (CD), Ambassador Wegger Strømmen of Norway, made it quite clear from the start that he does not intend to attempt to resolve “the impasse of the CD… by clever procedural drafting exercises.” 

“The passivity in this chamber is nothing but a reflection of insufficient political willingness in a number of capitals to negotiate treaty law,” Ambassador Strømmen continued to assert. He urged States to adhere to a thematic basis for each of the four formal plenary meetings that will be held under his presidency: nuclear disarmament on June 23; fissile material cut-off on June 28; outer space on June 30 and security assurances on July 7. 

France spoke on behalf of the European Union, and once again offered the EU Common Position in the NPT framework as a starting point for introducing new issues.

Most, including Japan, Italy, Brazil and Mexico, welcomed the approach by Ambassador Strømmen and cited the need for all delegations to remain flexible. While welcoming the President’s proposed schedule, some also reiterated their right to raise any issue they choose to raise at any point they choose to raise it, including the Netherlands, the US and Algeria.

Ireland and Brazil both reiterated their delegations' long-standing flexibility, noting that they stood ready to support a variety of proposals, including the Amorim Proposal, the A5 Agenda or the Food-For-Thought paper.

The United States, too, noted the need for flexibility on issues relating to the CD’s agenda, since most of them, the US believes, “are basically relics from the cold war.” Brazil rebutted, asserting that the real “relic is that we have to face the question of nuclear weapons and the utilization of nuclear weapons, as part of certain strategic policies.” Brazil continued to assert that, “I think we have to deal with the question of nuclear disarmament and deal with nuclear arms as relics from a past, which we should overcome”.