Summary: March 10, 2003: Statement by H.E. Ambassador Adamantios Th. Vasilakis, Permanent Representative of Greece to the UN, on behalf of the European Union. Open-ended Working Group on the General Assembly SSOD IV - 1st Substantive Session (New York)
I have the honour to speak on behalf of the European Union. The acceding countries, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, and the countries associated with the EU - Bulgaria, Romania, and Turkey - as well as the EFTA countries of Iceland and Norway align themselves with this statement.
Mr. Chairman,
Allow me at the beginning to congratulate all the members of the Bureau upon their election.
Mr. Chairman,
The security and stability of the international community is being challenged, both globally and regionally, by the risks brought about by the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and their means of delivery. In our view, disarmament, arms control and non-proliferation can make an essential contribution to the reduction and elimination of those risks. These risks include the acquisition of such weapons by terrorist groups. In this respect, the EU has identified areas for focused action
such as the full implementation of non-proliferation, disarmament and exports control multilateral treaties, the strengthening of the international disarmament co-operation, and the enhanced political dialogue on non-proliferation, disarmament and arms control.
The EU also attaches great importance to regional arms control arrangements. The EU believes that the creation of nuclear-weapon-free-zones, strengthens regional and global peace and security and notes that these should be based on arrangements freely concluded between the States of the region, and consultations with the nuclear-weapon States.
The EU remains firmly convinced that the process leading to the convening of SSOD IV must be carefully and thoughtfully organized in order to avoid a repetition of the unsatisfactory experiences of the past, and must fully respect the conditions set in GA Resolution 57/61, concerning the necessary consensus on both objectives and agenda for the SSOD IV before establishing any preparatory committee or any such process leading to the SSOD IV.
The EU is seeking to provide for a comprehensive review in the field of disarmament and international security, bearing in mind that the SSOD IV agenda should be fairly balanced between subjects relating to weapons of mass destruction and conventional armaments, and that each item should be examined on its own merits.
The EU would like also to stress the fact that SSOD IV's timing should take account of other envisaged major disarmament and non-proliferation conferences.
Mr. Chairman,
The EU believes that the objectives and the agenda of SSOD IV will have to be based on the above mentioned elements taking due account of all the contributions of delegations. The European Union would like to assure you that we will contribute positively to this exercise with a view to achieving the necessary consensus on the issues on the agenda of the working group.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
| Top |
European Union Member States
Alerts by email
Email this page
Print this page