Mr. Chairman,
Cuba does not possess or intend to possess any kind of weapons of mass destruction and strongly supports their total and full prohibition and elimination.
The only absolute guarantee to prevent the acquisition and use of weapons of mass destruction, even by terrorists, is the total and immediate elimination and prohibition of these weapons in a transparent, verifiable and irreversible manner.
Mr. Chairman,
The Eighth Review Conference of the Biological Weapons Convention, to be held in Geneva next November, is the space conducive to resume negotiations of a legally binding multilateral Protocol that further strengthens the Convention in a comprehensive and balanced way.
A strengthened Biological Weapons Convention with an effective verification mechanism is essential to ensure the protection of human beings and the environment, as well as to exclude the possibility to use bacteriological and toxin agents such as weapons.
At the Eighth Review Conference, Cuba will advocate the adoption of the necessary decisions to ensure the full, effective and non-discriminatory implementation of Article 10 of the Biological Weapons Convention, referring to international cooperation with peaceful purposes. To date, this remains a pending urgent and priority task.
Mr. Chairman,
The destruction of all categories of chemical weapons declared in the framework of the Chemical Weapons Convention must come to an end in the shortest possible time.
Promoting the economic and technological development of the States Parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention, particularly the least developed, must be a priority for the Organization for Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. Furthermore, there is an urgent need to adopt an Action Plan to ensure the full, effective and non-discriminatory implementation of Article XI of the said Convention, relating to Cooperation and International Assistance.
The continuing unilateral discriminatory prohibitions and restrictions imposed by some States against others in terms of transfers for the peaceful use of materials, equipment and technology in the chemical field are unacceptable and need to be repealed. A clear example is the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed against Cuba, in flagrant violation of the letter and the spirit of the Chemical Weapons Convention.
Mr. Chairman,
We reaffirm the central role of the United Nations General Assembly and of the current multilateral treaties on weapons of mass destruction in disarmament and non-proliferation matters. No measure taken by the Security Council can undermine this role.
Moreover, far from contributing, the selective and discriminatory initiatives promoted by groups of countries outside the multilateral framework weaken the role of the United Nations in the fight against weapons of mass destruction in all aspects.
Thank you very much.