Madam
President,
I
already took the floor of the Conference last week to make a couple of short
interventions, but I did not avail myself of that opportunity to properly address
the CD as a new member. So, let me
at the outset express my congratulations to you, Ambassador Miller, on your
assumption of the presidency of the Conference on Disarmament and assure you of
the full cooperation of my delegation.
I should also add words of praise to your esteemed P6 predecessors for
their outstanding efforts in steering the CD out of its deadlock and back onto
the path of substantive work. Particularly, I wish to thank the last
president, Ambassador Moritan of Argentina, for his enormous efforts
to pave the way for us to commence our actual work and for kindly introducing me
to the Conference on 11 June. I also wish to thank the Secretary
General Sergei Ordzhonikidze and the members of the CD for warmly
welcoming me to Geneva.
Madam President,
I
asked for the floor today in order to express the deep gratitude of my
delegation to Mr. Gareth Evans, co-chair, together with Ms. Yoriko Kawaguchi,
of the International Commission
on Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament (ICNND), for his timely and
comprehensive briefing on the intensive work of the ICNND, which the prime
ministers of both Japan and Australia jointly initiated last year. My delegation believes that his
presentation has already provided us with a wealth of useful ideas that will
augment the negotiations on FMCT and the other discussions that are to commence
under CD/1864.
Madam President,
Japan, as the only country to have suffered nuclear bombings, has consistently
adhered to its three non-nuclear principles and has demonstrated its strong
resolve towards achieving the total elimination of nuclear weapons. We submit
every year to the United Nations General Assembly a resolution on the total
elimination of nuclear weapons, which receives overwhelming support among the UN
Member States. We actively promote
the entry into force of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty. Japan has
faithfully implemented its IAEA safeguards agreement for over thirty years and
has fully ensured international confidence in its peaceful use of nuclear
energy. Whatfs more, based upon our experiences, we encourage disarmament and
non-proliferation education to civil society, particularly to the younger
generation. Against this backdrop, in April this year the Foreign Minister of Japan, Mr. Hirofumi Nakasone,
presented 11 benchmarks that cover three fundamental areas for advancing global
nuclear disarmament and announced Japanfs plan to host an
international conference on nuclear disarmament next year.
Japan is certain
that the International Commission will strengthen the recent positive movements
in nuclear disarmament, and we anticipate that the ICNND will submit a very
useful report after wrapping up its deliberations at the final meeting in Hiroshima this October. We strongly hope that the outcomes of
the Commissionfs work will contribute to the success of the 2010 NPT Review
Conference in the immediate term and to the significant progress in the global
efforts to realize a world free of nuclear weapons in the future.
I
thank you Madam President.