Here We Go Again
Laicie Olson | Jan 19, 2010 |
0 After ending 12 years of deadlock on May 29, the UN Conference on Disarmament (CD) is once again stuck in the mud due to Pakistan’s objections.
The 65-member conference, which operates by consensus, has spent much of 2009 in procedural wrangles after agreeing to a work plan that addressed four main issues, including the negotiation of a verifiable treaty banning the production of fissile material for use in nuclear weapons (FMCT), in May.
Today, Pakistan blocked the adoption of the 2010 agenda for the CD, suggesting that 2010 may be another slow year for progress.
Adoption of the agenda at the start of the annual session is normally a formality. One veteran official, unable to recall a similar delay in the past, states that, “Even in the darkest days the agenda was adopted, because everything can be discussed under the agenda.”
Pakistan, however, has an interest in delaying the start of substantive talks, since a limit on the production of fissile material could put it at a disadvantage against longer-standing nuclear powers such as India…
Nukes on a Blog, Conference on Disarmament, Pakistan (all tags)
