Malaysia Proposes Conference To Expand Membership

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 29 (Bernama) -- Malaysia, which is standing firm that nuclear disarmament remains its highest priority, has pushed for a proposal calling for the Conference on Disarmament (CD) to expand its membership. The proposal, according to Foreign Minister Anifah Aman, would ensure a greater engagement for members to play their part and collectively address the issue of disarmament and non-proliferation. Addressing the 2012 Session of the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva, Switzerland on Tuesday (Feb 28), Anifah said Malaysia felt that the special privilege should also be extended to other member states of the United Nations (UN). He said the CD, with current a membership of 65 countries, was a special group entrusted with an important mandate and since 1999, the membership had not expanded to include other countries that had yet to contribute to the good work of CD. "Malaysia reiterates our position for the conference to seriously consider the expansion of the membership of the CD," he said in the speech, which was made available here Wednesday. Malaysia, according to Anifah, also proposed that all member states demonstrated strong political will with the readiness to compromise and exercise utmost flexibility in order to start substantive work in the conference. He said it was vital for member states to exercise flexibility and political will so as to rejuvenate the stalled multilateral negotiations towards a successful conclusion of the Programme of Work. "Let not the de facto veto possessed by each member state be abused in our efforts to carry out the mandate of the CD. "While national security concerns are paramount in the process of decision making by member states, the goals of complete and total disarmament of nuclear weapons are equally as important," he said. Malaysia, he said, also proposed that the interactive sessions with the civil society be increased in order to uphold the principle of openness, transparency and inclusiveness. Anifah said Malaysia was firm in its stand that complete and total elimination of nuclear weapons was the only solution against the possible use or threat of the nuclear weapons. Malaysia had always maintained that the complete disarmament of weapons of mass destruction could be achieved through multilateral process. He said Malaysia was very committed towards the disarmament process that the country initiated a resolution titled "Follow up to the advisory opinion of the ICJ on the Legality of the Threat or Use of Nuclear Weapons" at the United Nations general assembly and had since then been tabled annually. "We remain convinced that for the survival of mankind, all nuclear weapons must be eliminated and the on-going development of new types of nuclear weapons needs to be urgently addressed," he said. -- BERNAMA