Madam President,

            As this is the first time that my delegation is taking the floor under your presidency, let me begin by congratulating you on assuming this function and assuring you of the full support of my delegation. We appreciate the extensive consultations undertaken by you. Given your commitment and diplomatic skills, coupled with the able support of your excellent team, we are confident of achieving further progress towards the resumption of substantive work in the CD under your leadership.

            Let me also take this opportunity to welcome the new Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation, Ambassador Gatilov. I look forward to working with him closely on disarmament and other issues.

We deeply appreciate the work done by the outgoing President, Ambassador Aryasinha of Sri Lanka. He guided us towards a landmark decision that would allow the Conference to resume substantive work. Given the lack of consensus on the commencement of negotiations on any issue in the CD, this framework provides the next best alternative that is both practical and pragmatic. It would allow a substantive consideration of all agenda items, without any preconditions, to develop a better understanding of the various perspectives to build convergences and narrow down the differences.

            My delegation would participate actively in the discussions that will be held under the various subsidiary bodies. We hope that all of us would utilize this opportunity to its optimum potential.  

At this stage, in accordance with the adopted Decision, we look forward to the appointment of the five Coordinators on the basis of equitable geographic distribution and an agreed timetable of meetings allocating equal time to each one of the five subsidiary bodies. These two aspects – the appointment of the five Coordinators and the timetable of meetings – should be formally agreed by the CD in order to have clarity and predictability for the whole year and to avoid any possible confusion at a later stage. We commend all your efforts and consultations in this regard and I take note of your opening remarks. You can count on my delegation’s cooperation and constructive engagement as we finalize these details to the satisfaction of all member states. 

I thank you, Madam President.