Statement by H.E. Ms. Enkhtsetseg
Ochir
Permanent Representative of Mongolia
to the United Nations
at the General Debate of the 2009 United Nations Disarmament Commission
New York, April 15, 2009
Mr.
Chairman,
My delegation congratulates you on
your election as Chairman of this Commission for this year’s session. We are confident that in you able stewardship,
this session of the UNDC will continue to advance the GA-entrusted mandate.
My delegation supports the new cycle
agenda, which has been adopted earlier today by the Commission.
Mongolia is committed to the purposes
and principles of the UNDC as a specialized, deliberative and universal body in
the UN disarmament architecture. Mongolia contributed to the work of the UNDC
by chairing the Commission in 1995 and submitting a working paper with a
perspective from Mongolia’s NWFS and contributed to the adoption of the
guidelines on establishment of NWFZ by the UNDC back in 1999.
Mr.
Chairman,
My delegation aligns itself with the
statement delivered earlier today by Indonesia on behalf of the NAM. In
addition to that in my brief remarks I wish to emphasize the importance and
role of nuclear-weapon-free zones to the attainment of the objectives of
nuclear disarmament.
This year the NWFZs are marked with
positive developments with the latest entry into force of the Central Asian
NWFZ on March 21 and the 40th anniversary of entry into force of the
first NWFZ in Latin America and the Caribbean, to be commemorated on 25 April
this year.
At present NWFZs cover more than 50
per cent of the Earth’s landmass and unite almost two thirds of the UN
membership. These zones are unique in that they are next to nuclear weapon
states, a move that signals a switch from passive to active disarmament. And
most importantly, NWFZ treaties strengthen international rule of law in the
area of disarmament.
We believe that the effectiveness of
NWFZs could be further promoted by closer coordination and cooperation between the
existing zones. It is our hope that the second NWFZ conference, scheduled for
2010, would mark an important step in this regard and would also contribute to
a productive and successful outcome of the 2010 NPT revcon. Following-up on the
first NWFZ conference held in 2005 in Mexico, the focal point of Mongolia’s
NWFS held consultations with the focal points of NWFZs on the margins of the
GA63rd session’s 1st committee. Based upon the agreement from these
consultations, Mongolia will be hosting a meeting of focal points of NWFZ
Treaties and Mongolia on 27 and 28 April this year in Ulaanbaatar. The
objective of the meeting is to discuss the ways of promoting cooperation and
strengthening the coordination mechanism between NWFZs in line with the Tlatelolco
Declaration of 2005. The provisional program of the meeting includes review of
the implementation of the Tlatelolco Declaration, preliminary exchange of views
on preparation for the 2nd Conference of NWFZs and preparations for the
2010 NPT review conference.
Mr. Chairman,
Taking into account the fact that the
establishment of NWFZs is essential part of effective and practical measures to
nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation, Mongolia is pursuing its continued policy
of institutionalizing its NWFS. We are pleased to inform the
delegations to the UNDC that Mongolia has started talks with its two neighbours to conclude the required legal
instrument. On 3 and 4
March last, China, Russia and Mongolia held the first meeting at Geneva to
discuss Mongolia’s draft trilateral treaty on its nuclear-weapon-free status.
At this meeting the sides exchanged views on major provisions of the draft
treaty and discussed the possible format of the trilateral agreement so that it
would be in conformity with the existing commitments by China and Russia. The
Mongolian side underlined that its good-neighborly relations with the
two neighbors formed a good basis for institutionalizing the status which
would promote further confidence among them and be in the national interests of
all three countries. The Geneva meeting proved very useful for better
understanding the views and positions of each country on the issue at hand and
the delegations agreed to have further meetings in future. And we hope that these talks would result in the conclusion
of an international instrument institutionalizing its NWFS not before long.
In concluding, Mr. Chairman, I wish to
reiterate my delegation’s full support of your efforts for a productive session
this year.