STATEMENT BY MR. HIROYUKI YAMAMOTO

MINISTER, DEPUTY PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF JAPAN

TO THE CONFERENCE ON DISARMAMENT

THE 1288^TH PLENARY MEETING OF THE CONFERENCE ON DISARMAMENT

“Programme of Work”

GENEVA, 4 JUNE 2013

Thank you, Mr. President,

I would like to begin by congratulating you, Ambassador Mohsen Naziri Asl, on your assumption to the Presidency of the Conference on Disarmament (CD). I can assure you of my Delegation’s utmost cooperation throughout your Presidency.

Mr. President,

We have a collective responsibility to meet the expectations addressed to this body by the international community and I commend your effort, in this regard, to try to dissuade the CD from its long-standing stalemate. After carefully studying last week’s discussion on a Programme of Work, I would like to briefly state Japan’s stance.

When I listen to discussions in this chamber or elsewhere, such as the Open-ended Working Group to develop proposals to take forward multilateral nuclear disarmament negotiations, I sense that the goal of a peaceful and secure world free of nuclear weapons is widely shared by the international community. There is a difference, however, on the approach to reach that ultimate end. In this matter, Japan believes that continuing steady accumulation of practical nuclear disarmament and confidence building measures is the way we should push forward. If we are to seriously consider the inhumane nature of the use of nuclear weapons, we need to be pragmatic and realistic in tackling these issues to achieve our common goal.

Among many conceivable measures to be implemented, Japan particularly attaches importance to a treaty banning the production of fissile material for nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices for which negotiations should commence immediately. With help of CD/1299, this conference provides a suitable environment for such negotiations and the wide support for realizing such a legally binding treaty is apparent from many voices reflected in numerous statements, documents and resolutions within the CD, the United Nations General Assembly, and the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. I also would like to reiterate that this Conference once agreed upon a Programme of Work, the CD/1864, enabling such negotiations. Although the core issues are all significant, the priority that Japan has been attaching to an FMCT has never changed since then. We hope that this will be regarded in a future Programme of Work.

I thank you, Mr. President.