The Vice President of the Council of Ministers and Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, H.E. Antonio Tajani, addressed today the Conference on Disarmament with a video-message, in the context of the High Level Segment held at the United Nations in Geneva.
Stressing Italy’s commitment to the Conference on Disarmament, the Minister stated that “we work for a peaceful and secure world, free of nuclear weapons, with a progressive approach for an effective, verifiable and irreversible nuclear disarmament”. In the current international scenario, continued the Minister, “the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty is our cornerstone. […] We also call on all States to sign and ratify the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty for its rapid entry into force”.
Opened on 27 February, the High Level Segment of the Conference on Disarmament sees, over the course of a week, the participation of senior political representatives from Member States. This year, being just a few days after the anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, it is also a time for many delegations to show their support for the Ukrainian people. Vice President Tajani himself, in his speech, recalled that “the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine is a threat to international peace and security and to the rules-based international order”.
Established in 1979 as a result of the first Special Session on Disarmament of the UN General Assembly, the Conference on Disarmament is the first and most important multilateral forum available to the international community for negotiations on disarmament and non-proliferation. Today, the Conference on Disarmament, based in Geneva, counts 65 Member States, including the five permanent members of the Security Council (China, France, United Kingdom, Russia, United States) and the most militarily significant States.