DCF/278

REVIEW OF DISARMAMENT AGENDA MADE MORE DIFFICULT BY NEGOTIATIONS ON NUCLEAR TEST-BAN TREATY, DISARMAMENT CONFERENCE TOLD

Speaking as the Conference, the sole multilateral disarmament negotiating forum, neared the end of this year's session, Hocine Meghlaoui, Special Coordinator on review of the agenda, said the climate was lacking in serenity following the nuclear test-ban negotiations. A solution regarding a test-ban treaty seemed at this stage a prerequisite to progress on revising the agenda. The Conference should not rule out the possibility of entrusting that question to the General Assembly, he added.

The representative of the United Kingdom said her delegation and others in the Western European and Other States Group would examine the report of the Special Coordinator and reserved their right to comment on it.

Statement by Special Coordinator

HOCINE MEGHLAOUI (Algeria), Special Coordinator for the review of the agenda of the Conference, recalled that he had been charged at the beginning of the current session with conducting consultations on its future agenda and on institutional arrangements to be established in order to examine the prohibition of the production of fissile materials for the production of nuclear weapons and other nuclear explosive devices; international arrangements to provide guarantees to non-nuclear-weapon States against the use of nuclear weapons; the prevention of an arms race in outer space; and transparency in armaments.

Based on consultations he had held, he said there was agreement that the Conference should have a new, balanced agenda that would boldly reflect changes in the world over the last few years. It was also accepted that the future agenda should contain concrete issues that would enable negotiations for the conclusion of universal agreements. In that connection, delegations had argued that the Conference should not duplicate the work of the Assembly's First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) or of the Commission on Disarmament.

- 2 - Press Release DCF/278 3 September 1996

The issue of nuclear disarmament was at the centre of concerns of many delegations, he continued. One group at the Conference had repeatedly stated the importance it attached to the establishment of an ad hoc committee on nuclear disarmament, and the President of the Conference was holding consultations on the question. However, the gaps among the priorities of different groups remained quite large.

One issue that polarized the Conference was the opening of negotiations on a convention to prohibit the production of fissile materials for the building of nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices, he said. No delegation objected to such a convention, but difficulties persisted. He feared that such difficulties had been aggravated by the direction taken by negotiations on a comprehensive nuclear test-ban treaty. Further consultations on that issue should be held in a more serene atmosphere than the one that existed presently at the Conference. The search for a solution to those questions seemed, at this stage, a prerequisite to a compromise on a future agenda.

He said it would take much genius to overcome the obstacles the Conference faced. He suggested that, as he was leaving the Conference, the President could continue consultations on the agenda. The Conference, for its part, could restart its work at the beginning of the next session with the opening of negotiations on a convention on land-mines. That might allow the Conference to restore its somewhat tarnished reputation, permit negotiations on the agenda to continue and make the temperature drop. That was all the more important as it would be difficult to reach a consensus on the agenda in a climate lacking in serenity. The question of the future agenda was a legislative one, and the Conference should not rule out the possibility of entrusting it to the General Assembly.

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United Nations