Japan to chair open debate on peace-building at UNSC in April

+

TOKYO, March 25 Kyodo -
Japan plans to convene a U.N. Security Council public debate session about
peace-building efforts in war-ravaged countries when it holds the rotating
presidency of the council in April, diplomatic sources said Thursday.
Arrangements are under way for Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada to visit New York
from April 15 to 18 and chair the event, which is intended to focus on the
situation in countries including Afghanistan and East Timor and in Africa.
The Japanese government hopes to adopt a chair's statement as a result of the
discussion.
A number of developing countries have faced a recurrence of conflicts despite
intervention by the international community such as in the form of U.N.
peacekeeping operations.
In the planned debate session, not only the 15 member states of the U.N.
Security Council but also other countries will be able to attend and make
statements, the sources said.
Tokyo also considered convening a meeting on nuclear disarmament and
nonproliferation issues but gave up the idea because related meetings are
already scheduled around the same time, including the Nuclear Security Summit
to be held April 12 to 13 in Washington.
A conference to review the operation of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty
will also be held in May in New York.
==Kyodo
2010-03-25 23:21:49