Sixth Meeting of the States Parties to the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines on Their Destruction

The First Review Conference successfully held last year, made it clear that much progress had been made in the first five years but that there were still many challenges ahead, requiring a major commitment by States Parties, international organizations and civil society. Today, we have gathered to identify what has been done in the past year and what further work is necessary to achieve the aims of the Five-Year Action Plan adopted at the Nairobi Summit. I would like to appreciate the work of the secretariat for preparering the Zagreb Progress Report which will guide our work next year in a concrete manner, and we are ready to spare no effort to meet the challenges ahead.

I welcome the adoption of the resolution on the universalization and implementation of the Ottawa Convention in the UNGA First Committee. It is especially encouraging that this year five States not parties have voted for the resolution for the first time and I think it is a positive step towards the universaliation of the Convention. I wholeheartedly commend the countries for their efforts to ratify or accede to the Convention. These countries are Ethiopia, Vanuatu, Latvia, and Bhutan. I would also like to welcome the fact that the resolution on mine action assistance was adopted by consensus this year in the UNGA Forth Committee. Under the guidance of the Nairobi Action Plan, Japan would continue its own efforts to make the Convention more universal and continue to actively support mine action in the field.

Today I am pleased to announce that next year, in close cooperation with the Croatian Mine Action Center (CROMAC), the Japan Science and Technology Center (JST) is going to conduct a field evaluation test on its dual sensor system for mine detection in Benkovac, Croatia. It is a great pleasure for my country to cooperate with Croatia in the development of mine action technology. Japan has been working to apply its technological expertise to the development of more effective equipment for mine detection and clearance, through cooperation with end-users, private companies and researchers. We hope that these technologies will contribute to the good work already being done on the ground.