Statement by H.E. Mr. Mari Amano

Ambassador, Permanent Representative of Japan

to the Conference on Disarmament

 

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

 

Phnom Penh, 28 November 2011

 

 

Mr. President (H.E. Mr. Prak Sokhonn),

Excellencies,

Distinguished Delegates,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

 

Allow me first, to congratulate you, Your Excellency Prak Sokhonn, on your assumption of the presidency.  I assure you of my delegationfs full support and wish you every success.  On behalf of the Government of Japan, I would like to express our heartfelt gratitude to the Government of Cambodia for its warm hospitality. 

 

Mr. President,

 

Since the entry into force of the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention, remarkable progress has been made in the reduction of casualties caused by mines thanks to the vigorous efforts of the international community to solve the problems associated with this weapon.  Nevertheless, the Cartagena Action Plan highlighted that challenges to the implementation of the Convention still remain and it gave us a clear path to follow.  By taking stock of what each State Party has accomplished in fulfilling the Action Plan, the Eleventh Meeting of States Parties serves as a stepping stone to achieving the goals of the Convention.

 

Under our objective of gZero New Victimsh of mines, over the past decade Japan has assisted 142 countries and regions through bilateral and multilateral channels including the UN Voluntary Trust Fund.  Since 1998 the total amount of Japanese assistance in this field has been over 448 million US dollars.  Out of this amount, over 116 million US dollars has been disbursed for Cambodia, with the active involvement of the Cambodian Mine Action Centre (CMAC).

 

In this connection, I would like to point out the importance of South-South cooperation.  As a donor country, Japan highly values the recent developments in South-South cooperation among affected states, and we will be hosting a side-event on this topic at lunch time today.  We anticipate this side-event will give all those in attendance an insight into CMACfs experience of cooperating with the Presidential Program for Comprehensive Action against Antipersonnel Mines (PAICMA) of Colombia and the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA).  In our view the collaborative effort between these three organizations is a good example of South-South cooperation, and Japan hopes that cooperation such as this will provide another positive and dynamic dimension to the efforts to accelerate work on the problem of mines.

 

Mr. President,

 

In addition to the provision of international assistance for mine affected states, Japan has been actively engaged in promoting universalization of the Convention.  Japan welcomes the recent accession of Tuvalu and sees an increasing interest among states not party to the Convention as a sign of favorable progress.  The Government of Japan would like to highly commend the Special Envoy on Universalization, His Royal Highness Prince Mired of Jordan, for his leadership and dedication to promoting universality.  For the goal of a world free of mines, Japan intends to further contribute to the common efforts to universalize the Convention.

 

Mr. President,

 

It is greatly expected that the Eleventh Meeting of States Parties will offer a unique opportunity for the States Parties to examine carefully the way ahead.  Japan hopes that after one-week of intensive discussions, the Meeting will provide the States Parties with added impetus to put the actions of the Cartagena Action Plan into practice.

 

I thank you.