Discussions on an informal working group dealing with a programme of work

The Conference on Disarmament (CD) opened its third part of the 2013 session on Tuesday, 30 July. The CD heard statements from the CD President, Germany, United Kingdom, United States, Australia, Switzerland, Indonesia, Republic of Korea, Russian Federation, China, Malaysia, Netherlands, France, Germany, India, Cuba, Brazil, and Iran. It also heard a report from the Chair of the Group of Governmental Experts (GGE), Mr. Victor Vasiliev of Russia.

The CD president, Ambassador Mohammad Sabir Ismail of Iraq, informed that he would be dedicating discussions to the proposal made on the 18 June by the Secretary-General of the CD, Mr.Kassim Jomart-Tokayev, to establish a working group in order for the CD to get back to work and agree on a programme of work.

Ambassador Ismail said that he had held consultations with member states based on the proposal and had received positive signs from states and thanked them for the flexibility they had shown. He will continue to update the Conference when further consultations have taken place.

Ambassador Matthew Rowland of the United Kingdom expressed his delegation’s support to the Secretary General’s proposal and emphasised that the working group should in particular look at the CD working methods, which was also echoed by Australia, Malaysia, and Germany. The German ambassador also added that it is time for the Conference to also look over the CD’s rules of procedure.

The Swiss ambassadr stated that this is a timely proposal, since the CD needs to explore new approaches and continued expressing support of a clear and simple mandate to establish a programme of work.  Switzerland, Indonesia, and Brazil emphasised the importance of looking over the role and appointment of the presidencies.

However, Mr. Victor Vasiliev of the Russian delegation emphasised that while his delegation is supportive of an informal working group, it feels that procedural issues should be of secondary importance and the mandate should be formulated in a general manner. 

Ms. Kristine Pelz from the US delegation stated that any informal working group should be limited to the 2013 session of the CD; however, she also expressed hope that if the CD was able to succeed in this task that it would continue to be acceptable during the 2014 session of the Conference as well. Ambassador Woolcoot of Australia welcomed the proposal but also suggested that if it is clear that no agreement can be reached, “there may be benefit in pausing to reflect rather than pushing ahead.” He also stated, as did Switzerland and Indonesia that if the mandate of the working group was agreed upon this should extend beyond the 2013 session. The Indian delegation noted the Conference that the CD’s rules of procedure provide the specific possibility to have the 2013 sessions work extend into 2014. 

The Chinese delegation asked how the president of the CD and the chair of the working group would work together. Mr. Daryaei from the Iranian delegation expressed concern about how this proposal would fit in the rules of procedure, since according to those rules the adoption of a programme of work is the main task of the president of the Conference. Mr. Singh Gill referred to rule 29 of the rules of procedure, which states that the agenda and the programme of work shall be drawn up by the president of the Conference, and noted that his delegation does not want anything preventing the president from working on his priority of reaching agreement on a programme of work. 

Mr. Onn from the Malaysian delegation emphasised the flexibility needed in order to ensure substantive progress in the conference. He argued that if the informal working group could not agree to a specific programme of work, it would be valuable if it could deliberate on the factors that prevented the Conference from doing so and suggest ways to overcome these obstacles. 

Update on the Group of Governmental Experts (GGE)

Mr. Victor Vasiliev, chair of the GGE, informed the Conference that the Group has adopted by consensus its study, which contains a number of voluntary transparency and confidence-building measures for outer space activities recommended for implementation at unilateral, regional, and multilateral level. The study also includs recommendations that coordination should be conducted between the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs and other UN entities involved in outer space activities.

Next plenary meeting

The next plenary meeting will be held on Tuesday, 6 August at 10:00 in the Council Chamber.