U.N. Disarmament Body Eyes Proposal for Working Group
The president of the Conference on Disarmament on Tuesday asked member nations to reflect on a June proposal that called for the establishment of an informal working group to help break a longstanding deadlock over how to proceed with the body's activities, United Nations Office at Geneva said in a statement posted to its website.
Ambassador Mohammad Sabir Ismail of Iraq said a decision on the creation of the working group will be submitted at the next meeting on Friday, according to the website. The Conference on Disarmament has been at loggerheads for years over its work plan, with Pakistan being the lone nation objecting to the launch of negotiations over a proposed Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty.
An announcement was made at Tuesday's plenary meeting that the 65 member nations had yet again failed to reach a consensus on a proposed draft program of work.
The current session, which opened in May, seeks to advance the Conference's multilateral nuclear disarmament efforts. Before the latest round, Pakistan blocked a work plan in February.
Ismail stated that reaching consensus on an exhaustive and balanced program of work was his priority, according to the report. The president's draft program of work was released on Tuesday but the conference was unable to decide on certain language in the draft, according to the UNOG webpage.
The last working plan of the Conference on Disarmament was adopted in 2009.
