STATEMENT BY H.E. MR. AKIRA HAYASHI

AMBASSADOR OF JAPAN

TO THE CONFERENCE ON DISARMAMENT

　

Geneva, 26th March 1998

　

　

Thank you, Mr. President,

　

　 As this is the first time for me to take the floor since the commencement of your presidency, allow me to congratulate you, Mr. President, on the assumption of the high post of president of the Conference on Disarmament at this important juncture.

　

Mr. President,

　

　 On behalf of the Delegation of Japan, I would like to state that I am pleased to see that the agreement has been finally reached today on the Programme of Work of the Conference on Disarmament this year.

　 In this regard, I would like, Mr. President, to express my appreciation and gratitude for your attempts to come up with the proposal which, while based upon the result of the discussions of March 13, tried to overcome the remaining difficulties. Your initiative in co-ordinating the various points of view and incorporating them in the agreement in a manner that led to its successful adoption is truly laudable.

　 The outcome of today would not have been possible without the efforts made by the previous presidents. Our first president of this year, Ambassador Lars NORBERG, after having successfully realized the adoption of the agenda on the first day of the Conference of this year, co-ordinated the views of the delegations towards a framework within which an agreement might be possible for the CD to start working.

　 The next President, Ambassador Erwin HOFER, after various forms of consultations which he had conducted energetically, he presented a comprehensive proposal and we were very near to an agreement on March 13. I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude toward these untiring and dedicated endeavours of the former Presidents.

　 At the same time I wish to commend each delegation for their compromise and co-operation that has made this agreement possible.

　 For our part, it is true that Japan is not entirely satisfied with today's agreement. Japan has priority items such as the Fissile Materials cut-off Treaty and, for instance, preferred to have it adequately reflected in the decision. It should be noted, however, that Japan, aware of the necessity of beginning work in the CD as soon as possible, went along with the consensus of the CD. It is my hope that this same spirit will prevail in the future when we engage in substantive discussions on various agenda items.

　

Mr. President,

　

　 I said earlier that I am pleased with the agreement. But at the same time we should bear in mind that today's agreement represents only the beginning, in other words, we are now simply at the starting line. The real test is what the CD will do. It is Japan's hope that from the outset of the second session, beginning in May, the Conference on Disarmament will commence its substantive work. Specifically, I would like to urge those who will be appointed as special co-ordinators to start seeking the respective views of Delegations immediately and co-ordinating various outlooks in order to formulate solutions on how best the CD can deal with each issue. Ideally, Japan hopes to see Ad-Hoc Committees established in the least possible amount of time and subsequently engaging in the real negotiations. The difficulties that lie ahead of us will be even greater than those in the past. More efforts and more flexibility will be required.

　

Thank you very much, Mr. President.