CD/PV.1346 Conference on Disarmament English Final record of the one thousand three hundred and forty-sixth plenary meeting Held at the Palais des Nations, Geneva, on Wednesday, 4 March 2015, at 10.50 a.m. President: Mr. Vaanchig Purevdorj ......................................................................................... (Mongolia) GE.16-08393 (E) 310516 010616 CD/PV.1346 The President: I call to order the 1346th plenary meeting of the Conference on Disarmament. Allow me at this stage to suspend this meeting so I may get to the Salon Franҫais to welcome our first guest for this morning, Mr. Erlan Idrissov, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan. The meeting was briefly suspended. The President: This meeting is resumed. I would like now to extend a warm welcome to our guest of today, Mr. Erlan Idrissov, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan. Thank you for addressing the Conference on Disarmament. I have the pleasure and honour to invite Mr. Idrissov to take the floor. Mr. Idrissov (Kazakhstan): I understand that I am the first speaker, so I will try to make a very nice awakening for you this morning. This body is very important, and sometimes we need some impetus to wake us up, so I am trying to do this today. Mr. President, let me first of all congratulate you on taking this important position. We wish you every success. We know the challenges, therefore we are here, so I wish you every success, and I would like to commend the efforts of your predecessor, the Permanent Representative of Mexico, who tried to really make a very serious attempt to deliver something on the work programme. So we hope that our deliberations will be successful. Let me remind you of the words of Mr. Ban Ki-moon, the United Nations Secretary- General, in his message to the Conference. He clearly said that this forum was established in order to conduct negotiations, not discussions, and the only measure of success is to conclude agreements in the field of disarmament. We fully agree with these words. Our inability to start substantive and successful negotiations on the key matters on our agenda year after year is simply intolerable, and this calls for the most serious attention and action on the part of all of us. We should be absolutely sincere to ourselves in recognizing this. But we also know from history that if we want, and if we genuinely work together, we can achieve progress and success. This forum has great potential and can make a significant contribution to the process of disarmament. In this regard I would like to express my hope that member parties will demonstrate their political will to overcome divisions in order to start the practical work of the Conference. Today the world unfortunately is experiencing a major transformation. We are witnessing growing friction between major Powers over so-called zones of influence, markets, control over energy and resources and their transportation. This growing instability can lead to conflicts, and is already leading to conflicts, and fosters a dangerous trend where States use power rather than diplomacy in world politics. As a result this can lead to an arms race, as well as the use of military force and other forms of coercion when protecting national interests. The Republic of Kazakhstan considers the Conference on Disarmament as an indispensable multilateral negotiating forum in the area of disarmament, non-proliferation and arms control. As we have repeatedly stated before, changing the rules of procedure or trying to undermine the agreed rules and procedures just for the sake of adopting the work programme as early as possible is not acceptable. The basic principle of consensus which underlies the workings of the Conference must remain unaltered. This principle has for many years served the interests of States regardless of their size. Consensus is at the core of the Conference and is essential to ensure universal agreement. 2 GE.16-08393 CD/PV.1346 At the same time we also welcome the increase in the membership of the Conference on Disarmament. Increasing the number of member States that can genuinely engage in the process of disarmament will add a new impetus to the whole Conference. When it comes to the participation of civil society in the deliberations of the Conference, we, as a matter of principle, support their participation and engagement. However, we believe that this issue requires a balanced approach, a measured approach. NGOs should be able to attend the meetings of the Conference as observers and find their own ways of delivering their expert opinions. However, we believe that NGOs should not directly interfere with the work of the Conference. It is States that are represented at the Conference, where they conduct negotiations on issues directly affecting their national interests. Unfortunately, I must note that the Conference on Disarmament has been unable to conduct any substantive negotiations on disarmament since the adoption of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty. We welcome the efforts to revive the activities of the Conference, including the establishment of an informal working group in the framework of the work programme. Key issues on the agenda for us, as we hope for many, if not all, are nuclear disarmament through the adoption of a legally binding, non-discriminatory and universal instrument, the development and signing of a fissile material cut-off treaty, prevention of an arms race in outer space, and negative security assurances to States that do not possess any nuclear weapons. It is important to start negotiations on all four key issues which I just mentioned a moment ago. We believe that these negotiations and actions should be taken as soon as possible. Nuclear disarmament is one of the most important and pressing issues facing our planet today. The complexity of the issue requires that small but concrete steps should be taken to achieve the goal. My President proposed back in 2010 the adoption of a universal declaration of the United Nations on creating a world free from nuclear weapons. We believe, and hope, that this can be an important step towards adopting, towards our very ambitious dream of adopting, the convention on a complete and comprehensive ban on nuclear weapons which was proposed by Costa Rica and Malaysia. We support this, and we should take specific steps to achieve that very ambitious goal. It is time to stop talking and start acting by taking measures to remove nuclear stockpiles, including from those countries that are not party to the Nuclear Non- Proliferation Treaty (NPT). Kazakhstan believes it is time to take early action on the fissile material cut-off treaty. The signing of this treaty will help minimize the possibility of development of illegitimate military nuclear programmes, significantly improve control over existing materials and reduce the risk of nuclear terrorism. To facilitate this process we have supported the establishment of a group of governmental experts on preparing negotiations for the treaty. I am sure that their recommendations would serve as a benchmark for substantive negotiations on this treaty within the Conference. It is also vital to have further discussions on the issue of prevention of an arms race in outer space by involving other international bodies that engage in this matter. To facilitate the start of these negotiations, we support the draft treaty prepared by China and the Russian Federation on this matter. As you know, Kazakhstan voluntarily got rid of the fourth largest nuclear arsenal in the world. It is also common knowledge that we are the home to Baikonur, the largest space launching site, which is making a major contribution to the peaceful use of outer space. We believe it is vital that a resolution calling for a ban on GE.16-08393 3 CD/PV.1346 the placement of weapons in outer space should be adopted. This resolution is supported by as many as 126 States in the First Committee of the United Nations General Assembly. Having established a nuclear-weapon-free zone in Central Asia, together with our neighbours, Kazakhstan also believes that it is necessary to start the development of an international legally binding instrument on the provision of security assurances to non- nuclear-weapon States by nuclear-armed countries. Only such a guarantee can discourage non-nuclear-weapon States from seeking nuclear weapons which they see as necessary for their own security. We have already achieved significant progress towards this ambition for our region. On 6 May last year, representatives of the five nuclear-weapon States — the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, China, the Russian Federation, the United States of America and France — signed a protocol to the Treaty of Semipalatinsk in New York. Kazakhstan, which occupied the Chair during this process, made every effort to encourage the signing of the protocol, which ensures that nuclear Powers are now committed not to use nuclear weapons against the five parties to the Treaty of Semipalatinsk. We would like to thank the Governments of France and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland for ratifying the protocol, and we expect that the other three countries will do the same at the earliest. The Non-Proliferation Treaty still remains the cornerstone of international security, and this is recognized by everyone. The 2015 NPT Review Conference will mark the twentieth anniversary of the NPT’s indefinite extension agreed to in 1995. We call on all member States that have signed the Treaty to continue to pursue the challenging goals that lie ahead. Kazakhstan is concerned at the continued delays in progress towards establishing a Middle East zone free from nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction, as agreed upon during the 2010 NPT Review Conference.