Statment by Counselor María Paula Mac Loughlin

July 11

Mr. Chair,

At the outset, the Argentine Delegation would like to thank the presentation of your proposal of objectives and agenda for the Fourth Special Session of the General Assembly devoted to Disarmament and reiterate all its support in the chairmanship of this Group.

Mr Chair, we believe that your proposal for objectives and agenda, which shows a comprehensive approach, could meet the concerns expressed by my country during the first meeting of the group, namely the possibility of dealing in a balanced way with issues of nuclear disarmament and conventional disarmament as well.

It also proposes to review the operation of the disarmament machinery, a key issue to unlock the disarmament negotiations. Argentina regrets that there is no consensus among members to agree and adopt a program of work that will lead to genuine and effective multilateral negotiations on nuclear disarmament. With regard to this issue, Argentina believes that beyond the validity of discussions on procedural and membership issues, stagnation will only be overcome with the political will and flexibility of Member States.

Finally, the Argentine Delegation welcomes the establishment of an agenda item to be determined by a possible Preparatory Commission, which could include relevant aspects of disarmament and security linked to the specific context in which the Special Session would take place. In this regard, Argentina would also like to take into account the importance of giving special consideration to the agenda of meetings in the coming years, in order to avoid a possible overlap of SSOD IV with other meetings.

Thank you, Mr Chair.