United Nations A/73/ PV.45 General Assembly Official Records Seventy-third session 45th plenary meeting Wednesday, 5 December 2018, 10 a.m. New York President: Ms. Espinosa Garcés.................................... (Ecuador) The meeting was called to order at 10.05 a.m. During the action phase, the Committee adopted 68 draft resolutions and decisions — one was Reports of the First Committee withdrawn — 39 of which were adopted as a whole by a recorded vote, with 50 separate votes requested. The President (spoke in Spanish): The General Twenty-nine draft proposals were adopted as a whole Assembly will now take up the reports of the First without a vote, of which 23 were not on voted on at Committee on agenda items 93 to 108, 123 and 137. all, either on separate paragraphs or as a whole. Of I request the Rapporteur of the First Committee, the 68 draft resolutions and decisions adopted by Ms. Muna Zawani Mohammad Idris of Brunei the Committee, 25 were under the cluster “Nuclear Darussalam, to introduce the reports of the First weapons”. Under the cluster “Other weapons of mass Committee in one intervention. destruction”, five draft resolutions are recommended. In addition, four drafts are recommended under the Ms. Mohammad Idris (Brunei Darussalam), cluster “Outer space (disarmament aspects)”, nine under Rapporteur of the First Committee: I have the honour “Conventional weapons”, 12 on “Other disarmament to introduce to the General Assembly the reports of the measures and international security”, five on “Regional Disarmament and International Security Committee, disarmament and security” and, finally, eight under the the First Committee, on agenda items 93 to 108, 123 and cluster “Disarmament machinery”. 137, as contained in documents A/73/502 to A/73/519. For the convenience of delegations, a checklist prepared The Secretariat made oral statements on the by the Secretariat of action taken in the First Committee financial implications of 12 draft resolutions adopted is contained in document A/C.1/73/INF/3. by the Committee under agenda items 96, 101, 102, 103, 105 and 108. Documents were issued on the programme During this main part of the seventy-third budget implications for the draft resolution entitled session, the Disarmament and International Security “Advancing responsible State behaviour in cyberspace Committee held a total of 31 formal meetings to in the context of international security” and the draft consider the 19 agenda items that were allocated to it. decision entitled “Convening a conference on the During this session, 135 delegations made statements establishment of a Middle East zone free of nuclear during the general debate segment, as compared with weapons and other weapons of mass destruction”, 131 delegations in 2017. Also, an impressive 354 submitted under agenda items 97, 104 and 136, interventions were made during the thematic discussion respectively. With respect to the draft resolution segment, as compared with 312 interventions made in entitled “Developments in the field of information and 2017. That shows an upward trend in participation in the telecommunications in the context of international work of the Committee. security”, the Secretariat informed the Committee that This record contains the text of speeches delivered in English and of the translation of speeches delivered in other languages. Corrections should be submitted to the original languages only. They should be incorporated in a copy of the record and sent under the signature of a member of the delegation concerned to the Chief of the Verbatim Reporting Service, room U-0506 ([email protected]). Corrected records will be reissued electronically on the Official Document System of the United Nations (http://documents.un.org). 18-41374 (E) *1841374* A /73/PV.45 15/12/2018 the oral statement read out superseded the statement the Secretary of the Committee and her team from the of programme budget implications that was initially Department for General Assembly and Conference issued as document A/C.1/73/L.71. Management, conference officers, interpreters, record keepers, press officers, document officers, sound With regard to item 123, “Revitalization of the work technicians and information technology staff. of the General Assembly”, the draft decision containing the provisional programme of work and timetable of The President (spoke in Spanish): I thank the the First Committee for 2019 is contained in document Rapporteur of the First Committee for her report. A/73/518. The positions of delegations regarding the I have the honour to submit to the General Assembly recommendations of the First Committee have been for its consideration and adoption the draft resolutions made clear in the Committee and are reflected in and draft decisions recommended by the Disarmament the relevant official records. Therefore, if there is no and International Security Committee in its reports proposal under rule 66 of the rules of procedure, I shall contained in documents A/73/502 to A/73/519. take it that the General Assembly decides not to discuss the reports of the First Committee that are before the With respect to the report on agenda item 101, Assembly today. issued as document A/73/510, I would like to inform the Assembly for the record that the delegation of Cuba It was so decided. intended to abstain in the voting on operative paragraph The President (spoke in Spanish): Statements will 2 of draft resolution A/C.1/73/L.54, entitled “United therefore be limited to explanations of vote or position. action with renewed determination towards the total elimination of nuclear weapons”, and vote in favour of Mr. Yelchenko (Ukraine), Vice-President, took operative paragraph 5 of the same draft resolution. the Chair. Before concluding, I would like to recall the high The Acting President: May I remind members level of cooperation prevailing in the First Committee. that, in accordance with General Assembly decision The Committee was able to fulfil the mandate entrusted 34/401, a delegation should, as far as possible, explain to it by the General Assembly and complete its work its vote only once, that is, either in the Committee or in within the time allotted by the Assembly. On behalf of plenary meeting, unless that delegation’s vote in plenary the Bureau of the Committee, I would like to express meeting is different from its vote in the Committee. our sincere appreciation to all delegations for their In addition, I remind members that explanations are constructive participation during the session. In that limited to 10 minutes and should be made by delegations regard, I would note in particular the positive manner from their seats. in which the First Committee delegations continue to Before we begin to take action on the embrace the e-Delegate portal. recommendations contained in the reports of the First I should also like to express my deep appreciation Committee, I should like to advise representatives to the Chair of the First Committee, His Excellency that we are going to proceed to take decisions in the Ambassador Ion Jinga of Romania, whose knowledge same manner as was done in the Committee, unless and experience in multilateral forums enabled the the Secretariat was notified otherwise in advance. Committee to successfully consider all the agenda items That means that, where separate or recorded votes allocated to it in a timely and efficient manner. The were taken, we will do the same. I should also hope other members of the Bureau — Ms. Marissa Edwards that we may proceed to adopt without a vote those of Guyana, Mr. José Ataíde Amaral of Portugal and recommendations that were adopted without a vote in Mr. Noël Diarra of Mali, with whom I had the pleasure the First Committee. The results of the votes will be of working — also contributed greatly to the successful uploaded on the PaperSmart portal. conclusion of the work of the Committee. I would like to draw the attention of members Finally, I would like to recognize the dedicated to a note by the Secretariat, in English only, entitled support of Ms. Izumi Nakamitsu, High Representative “Situation reports of the First Committee on agenda for Disarmament Affairs, and the staff of the United items 93 to 108, 123 and 137”, which has been Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs, as well as circulated as document A/C.1/73/INF/3. The note has 2/61 18-41374 15/12/2018 A /73/PV.45 been distributed desk to desk in the General Assembly We will now take a decision on the draft resolution. Hall as a reference guide for action on draft resolutions The First Committee adopted it without a vote. May I and decisions recommended by the First Committee in take it that the Assembly wishes to do the same? its reports. The draft resolution was adopted (resolution 73/26). Members will find in column 2 of the note the symbols of the draft resolutions and decisions of the The Acting President: May I take it that it is First Committee, with the corresponding symbols of the the wish of the General Assembly to conclude its reports for action in the plenary in column 4 of the same consideration of agenda item 94? note. For reports containing multiple recommendations, It was so decided. the draft resolution or decision number is contained in column 5 of the note. Agenda item 95 Members are reminded that additional sponsors Maintenance of international security — good are no longer accepted now that draft resolutions and neighbourliness, stability and development of decisions have been adopted by the Committee. Any South-Eastern Europe clarification about co-sponsorship in the Committee reports should be addressed to the Secretary of Report of the First Committee (A/73/504) the Committee. The Acting President: The Assembly has before it Furthermore, members are reminded that any a draft decision recommended by the First Committee corrections to the voting intentions of delegations after in paragraph 7 of its report.