Statement by H.E. Dr. Kuniko Inoguchi

Ambassador, Permanent Representative of Japan

to the Conference on Disarmament

Geneva, 20^th March 2003

Mme. President,

Distinguished delegates,

Allow me at the outset, Mme. President, to congratulate you on your assumption of the presidency. I would like to assure you of the full support of my delegation as you guide us through this difficult period.

I have asked for the floor to inform the Conference that Japan, Australia and the United Nations Institute of Disarmament Research will co-organize a workshop entitled “Promoting Verification in Multilateral Arms Control Treaties - Future verification regime, FMCT in particular” on 28 March in the Council Chamber. The Workshop constitutes an important part of Japan’s efforts to engage in substantive discussions on the priority issues of disarmament and arms control. My delegation has already issued invitations to all delegations concerned. If anybody in this room has yet to see the invitation, please contact my delegation. We have some copies available here.

The objective of this workshop will be to learn generic lessons from existing verification regimes in multilateral disarmament conventions and to discuss whether and how those lessons can be drawn upon in the creation of new verification regimes, inter alia, that of FMCT.

The morning session will be devoted to discussions on generic lessons from the existing regimes with Dr. Patricia Lewis as moderator. Presentations will be given by officials from the IAEA, the OPCW and the CTBTO Preparatory Committee, in addition to a general overview by Dr. Trevor Findlay, Executive Director of VERTIC, a well-known non-governmental organization dealing with verification issues.

The afternoon session will focus on verification of the FMCT. Participants will hear presentations by panelists from different countries, namely Australia, India, Sweden and the United Kingdom. A general overview will be presented by Mr. Hiroyoshi Kurihara, Senior Executive Director of the Nuclear Material Control Center of Japan, who will moderate the session.

In structuring the program, the co-organizers have greatly benefited from discussions at the CD plenary meetings as well as informal discussions held on various occasions, including seminars and workshops. I would like to express my appreciation for all past efforts made by all those who contributed to the previous discussions and the organizers of various seminars. I hope all interested delegations will take this opportunity to learn about verification-related issues and to actively participate in these very informal discussions.

Thank you.