High Level Meeting on the Conference on Disarmament

The High-Level Meeting, “Revitalizing the Work of the Conference on Disarmament and Taking Forward Multilateral Disarmament Negotiations” was held on the 24th of September 2010 in New York. It was convened by the Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in response to a request made for it in May 2010 during the NPT (Non-Proliferation Treaty) Review Conference.
As a result of Ban Ki-moon’s determination in promoting the multilateral disarmament agenda, over forty high-level delegates attended the event, including Deputy Prime Ministers, and Foreign and Defense Ministers - confirming the vital importance of Disarmament and Non-Proliferation world-wide.
The main objective of the Secretary-General’s initiative was to provide the political support needed to identify and implement measures able to revitalize the disarmament machinery, and overcome the deadlock of over ten years of the Geneva Disarmament Conference.
The need to revitalize the disarmament machinery was also strongly stressed in a speech given by Honorable Franco Frattini, Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs, especially with reference to the FMCT (Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty) negotiations and the topics discussed at the last NPT Review Conference, in accordance with the position of the European Union, expressed by the Belgian Deputy Prime Minister Steven Vanackere.

24 September 2010- High-level Meeting on Revitalising the Work of the Conference on Disarmament and Taking Forward Multilateral Disarmament Negotiations - Statement on behalf of the European Union by H.E. Mr Steven Vanackere, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Belgium