Thank you Mr. President,
We thank you once again for your hard work in trying to move the current session forward. We hope that for the work program we can reach consensus based on the balance between members' priorities.
Mr. President,
We reiterate that it is not up to the Conference on Disarmament to deliberate, because for that we already have the Disarmament Commission. The Conference on Disarmament must negotiate binding instruments, in accordance with the mandate of SSOD-I.
Even if we note that subsidiary bodies, without a clear mandate, can become deliberative spaces; We have shown the necessary flexibility in recent years to enable them to operate.
In 2022, we join the consensus around the proposal prepared by the Chinese delegation. We considered that there was a balance and that it represented an essential minimum for consensus.
For our delegation, any new language must keep the negotiation of legally binding instruments as its main task. In this sense, we do not view favorably the proposals containing modifications that consider the work of the negotiating instruments as an option rather than a priority and which qualify the task entrusted to us by the first extraordinary session of the UNGA on disarmament.
Our delegation is studying the proposals presented, but we view favorably the modification made by the Russian Federation to operative paragraph 1. We believe that this is the way forward because it gives primacy to the mandate of this body.
Mr. President,
Allow us to reaffirm in this context that, for Cuba, as for the majority of the Conference on Disarmament and all members of the G21, nuclear disarmament is the priority, not only of this body, but of the entire disarmament sphere. We therefore demand that this collective interest be reflected in the indicative program of the subsidiary bodies, in particular for theme 1. The same must be true for theme 4 on negative security assurances, which must include a general approach on the urgent need to reach an agreement on the issue soon.
Mr. President,
Cuba has always supported the Conference on Disarmament to negotiate and adopt an instrument on the ban on fissile materials, which covers both production and stockpiles. As expressed at UNGA headquarters and the First Committee, this last element is of the utmost importance. A treaty that did not cover stocks would be totally insufficient. We would only have an instrument of selective non-proliferation instead of the disarmament treaty that we aspire to and need.
Mr. President,
While we wish you every success and reiterate our willingness to work with you and the rest of the membership to find a text that generates the necessary consensus, we ask that you give due consideration to these considerations.
Thank you very much.