September 15, 2005

The penultimate plenary meeting of the 2005 session of the Conference on Disarmament (CD) commenced with a moment of silence as a tribute to Sir Joseph Rotblat. Rotblat, most famous for receiving a Nobel Peace Prize and being a founder of the Pugwash Conference, passed away on September 2nd, 2005, at the age of 96.

As the current CD President, Ambassador Manuel Rodriguez-Cuadros of Peru gave a debriefing of his consultations on the programme of work. Ambassador Cuadros informed the conference of the four areas of agreement shared by all delegations: support for the CD negotiating mandate; desire to break the current paralysis; support for substantive working papers on areas related to the programme of work; and the desire to continue working by consensus.

No other delegation took the floor in order for delegations to have an opportunity to read through the draft report of the CD to the General Assembly. The released draft report recognizes the efforts of successive CD Presidents to overcome the deadlock in the CD, recalls theparticipation of various Foreign Ministers in the debate, and notes the thematic debates conducted under the Norwegian Presidency.

Please note: The final session of the CD will be held on Thursday, September 22, 2005.