EU Presidency Statement - First Committee Panel Discussion: Weapons of Mass Destruction Committee

Statement by H.E. Mr. Kari Kahiluoto, Ambassador, Permanent Representative of Finland to the Conference on Disarmament, on behalf of the European Union, UN 61st Session; First Committee, Panel Discussion: Dr. Hans Blix as the Chairman of the Weapons of Mass Destruction Committee, New York

Madam Chair,
Dr. Blix,

I am as Presidency European Union. We would like to express our appreciation to you Dr. Blix for the work done by the WMDC under your leadership.

The report of the Commission "Weapons of Terror: Freeing the World of Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Arms", represents a valuable contribution to our collective efforts to revive and strengthen the multilateral disarmament and non-proliferation system.

Proliferation of WMD is a growing threat to international peace and security. Despite difficulties, we have to strive continuously to revive and strengthen multilateral disarmament and non-proliferation treaties and agreements. The EU is a staunch supporter of effective multilateral action also in this field, as expressed in our Security Strategy, Strategy against Proliferation of WMD and other EU instruments.

We would like to congratulate the WMDC for involving many of the world's leading experts to work together on such an important topic. The broad geographical composition and other representativeness of the WMDC increase its importance and timeliness.

The target audiences of the WMDC report, aside from governments, are parliaments, political parties, non-governmental organisations, the mass media and the public at large. Disarmament is not an issue only for inter-governmental meetings, and information about it must be disseminated and discussed openly. The WMDC sets a good example here also in very practical terms, among other things through easy availability in the internet and providing the report summaries in several languages.

Thank you.

| Arriba |

• EU Presidency Declaration on 10th Anniversary of the Chemical Weapons Convention (26/4/2007)
• Non-proliferation Speech by EU Commissioner Ferrero-Waldner (13/3/2007)
• EU Presidency Statement - United Nations Security Council: Cooperation between the UNSC and International Organizations for the Implementation of Resolutions 1540 (2004) and 1673 (2006) (23/2/2007)
• EU Presidency Statement - Explanation of Vote on the Draft Resolution on "Risk of Nuclear Proliferation in the Middle East" (23/10/2006)
• EU Presidency Statement - Conventional Weapons (12/10/2006)
• EU Presidency Statement - Other Weapons of Mass Destruction (11/10/2006)
• EU Presidency Statement - Nuclear Weapons (10/10/2006)
• EU Presidency Statement - First Committee: General Debate (2/10/2006)