EU Presidency Statement - HCOC against ballistic missile proliferation

Mr. Chairman,

1. 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 and Slovenia, the Associated Countries Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey and the EFTA Countries of Iceland and Norway, members of the European Economic Area align themselves with this statement.

Mr. Chairman,

2. The EU would like, at the outset, to congratulate you and your Country, Chile, on becoming Chair of HCOC. We assure you of our continuing assistance. At the same time, I seize the opportunity to express our thanks and gratitude to the Netherlands for all the efforts made throughout the first, fruitful year in the life of HCOC.

Mr. Chairman,

3. The international community is challenged by the growing risks of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and their means of delivery, such as ballistic missiles, which constitute a threat to international peace and security. Addressing such challenge is a central element in the EU external action. To this end, the "Declaration on non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction" adopted by the Thessaloniki European Council on June 19 and 20 clearly and unequivocally reiterates the EU commitments in this field. The "Basic Principles for an EU strategy against proliferation of weapons of mass destruction" and the related "Action Plan for the implementation of the basic principles for an EU strategy against the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction", adopted last June, are the guidelines for the EU action in the field of non-proliferation and disarmament.

Mr. Chairman,

4. Both the "Basic Principles" and the related "Action Plan" reiterate, in particular, the EU strong and continuing support to HCOC. The EU attaches great importance to HCOC and has actively supported its development and launching. Since the 2001 Göteborg European Council the EU had expressed its support to the early entry into force of the Code and the resolve to see its early adoption by as many States as possible. Thus the EU will actively operate to foster the universalisation of HCOC.

5. I would like to recall that the EU statement at last year's Code launching conference in The Hague pointed out that - quote - "the Code establishes fundamental principles where previously there were none; the Code establishes a multilateral framework for co-operation where previously there was none' - unquote - . The EU commends these words and considers that the Code has already become an asset in the multilateral system in the field of non-proliferation.

Mr. Chairman,

6. The launching conference at The Hague in November, last year, has been followed by an intersessional technical meeting in Vienna, in June last. A promising exchange of views has been held among member States and important achievements have been reached on that occasion regarding Pre-Launch Notifications (PLNs), procedures for their submission and circulation and Annual Declarations (ADs) by HCOC member States. The EU welcomes such a fruitful debate and the achievements regarding the actual implementation of the Code's provisions, which will contribute to the effectiveness of the Code and enhance its role.

7. It has been agreed in Vienna that PLNs and ADs shall be transmitted to the Immediate Central Contact (ICC), which will then distribute them among member States. In this respect the EU would like to express its appreciation of the valuable role of Austria as ICC of HCOC.

8. The EU welcomes both the successful beginning of the confidence and security building process through the information exchange on PLNs and ADs and the active contributions to the implementation of the Code submitted so far. HCOC confidence and security building measures need to be implemented in an effective, predictable and stringent manner. This is essential to achieve the goal of creating confidence and avoiding misunderstandings or misperceptions. Building upon progress made in the first intersessional meeting, further efforts should be devoted to working out the modalities for the implementation of the Code.

Mr. Chairman,

9. Since the launching conference of the Code, less than one year ago, the number of Countries adhering to the Code has considerably grown: today as many as 109 Countries adhere to HCOC. The EU strongly welcomes the newly adhering Countries and hopes more Countries will adhere to the Code in the near future so as to move forward towards its universalisation. At present, HCOC membership covers all continents, thus helping spread multilateral confidence and enhance international security. However, we regret that there are still membership gaps in certain regions where ballistic missiles proliferation is still an urgent issue.

10. The EU continues to support the universalisation of the Code and has conducted outreach activities and demarches to this goal both before and after the launching conference. Thus, the EU expresses its hope that all Countries adhering to the code will co-operate to enlarge the participation into the Code. We are committed to make the Code a valuable instrument in the fight against missile proliferation with clearly defined procedures and obligations as far as the CSBM are concerned.

Mr. Chairman,

11. HCOC subscribing States consider that the relationship between the Code and the United Nations should be strengthened, so to bring it more into the fold of the UN system. We recall that in the intersessional technical meeting there has been a general agreement about the desirability of having in due time a UNGA resolution.

Mr. Chairman,

12. The EU is looking forward to the upcoming two days, confident that the meeting will build upon the valuable work of the intersessional meeting in formalising and, where possible, elaborating the agreements reached there. This includes especially the HCOC PLNs tool discussed at the intersessional meeting, which should become for the time being the standardised format for PLNs. As far as the ADs are concerned there was agreement in Vienna that in the future one or multiple formats could be considered. We are looking forward to discuss this further in the light of the ADs submitted by HCOC member States so far. The EU welcomes the food-for-thought paper on a communication strategy presented by the outgoing Chair in collaboration with the ICC and the incoming Chilean Chair.

Mr. Chairman,

13. Let me conclude my statement on behalf of the European Union by underlining once more that we stand ready to assist Chile, and you personally, in the Chairmanship term and we are looking forward to a productive meeting under your guidance.

I thank you very much for your attention, Mr. Chairman.

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