Geneva, June 18, 2025. Ambassador Rodolfo Benítez Verson presented his credentials today as Permanent Representative of the Republic of Cuba to the Conference on Disarmament, in a ceremony held at the United Nations Palace.
The Cuban representative presented the credentials to H.E. Fancy Chepkemoi Too, Ambassador of Kenya, the current president of the Conference on Disarmament.
During the exchange, Benítez Verson emphasized Cuba's support for multilateralism and the Conference on Disarmament, and his commitment to continue contributing in every possible way to that body's initiation of substantive negotiations on new disarmament instruments.
Cuba advocates for the negotiation and adoption at the Conference, as a matter of priority, of a treaty prohibiting the arms race in outer space; another on the prohibition of the production of fissile material for weapons and other nuclear devices; and a third instrument that would provide effective security guarantees to non-nuclear-weapon States that such weapons will never be used against them.
The Cuban representative also reaffirmed that nuclear disarmament is and must remain the highest priority in the field of disarmament, given the existential threat that such weapons represent.
They also discussed the responsibility that Cuba will assume in the coming days as the Coordinating Country of the G-21, the largest of the four consultation groups into which the Conference on Disarmament is divided. The G-21 is made up of 33 developing countries, out of the total of 65 Member States currently in the Conference.
The Conference on Disarmament was founded in 1979 as a result of the first Special Session on Disarmament of the United Nations General Assembly, held in 1978.
It is the only multilateral forum of the international community mandated to negotiate legally binding agreements on disarmament and arms control.
