Conference on Disarmament Opens Second Part of 1986 Session

Conference on Disarmament opens second part of 1986 session

The Conference on Disarmament opened the second part of its 1986 session on 10 June in Geneva, hearing a call for the "new spirit of Geneva' to be developed and enriched.

Both the Soviet Union and United States should demonstrate political will and readiness to take concrete steps in their ongoing bilateral disarmament talks, stated Bulgarian President Todor Zhivkov in a message read to the Conference by its President for June, Konstantin Tellalov of Bulgaria.

"Nowadays, security is exclusively a political problem. It is only through the achievement of a new political thinking and in the politicial means and dialogue that the way out can be found--a way capable of guaranteeing the future of human civilization', Mr. Zhivkov said.

The "peoples of the entire world follow with hope' the work of the Conference, he went on. "We believe that it can contribute substantially to limiting the danger of war, and limiting a nuclear catastrophe.'

The Conference agenda, he said, "includes all major issues on whose solution the success of this great human endeavour depends'. The problem of nuclear disarmament and space weapons in all its various aspects could not be solved through the efforts of the leading nuclear-weapon States only, although their special responsibility was commonly acknowledged. The cessation of all nuclear-weapon testing--along with a ban on tests-- "is a top priority task,' he said.

The 40-member Conference-- consisting of the five nuclear-weapon States and 35 other countries--is the world's only multilateral negotiating body on disarmament issues. Its 1986 session is scheduled to conclude in August.

Spring session ends: The Conference on Disarmament concluded the first part of its 1986 session on 25 April after agreeing to re-establish its Ad Hoc Committee on the Prevention of an Arms Race in Outer Space, and appointing Luvsandorjiin Bayart (Mongolia) Committee Chairman. The session began on 4 February (see UN Chronicle, Vol.XXIII, No. 3).

Reviewing the Conference's work, Celso Antonio de Souza e Silva (Brazil), President for April, noted that during the month subsidiary bodies on chemical weapons, radiological weapons and …

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Publication information: Article title: Conference on Disarmament Opens Second Part of 1986 Session. Contributors: Not available. Magazine title: UN Chronicle. Volume: 23. Publication date: August 1986. Page number: 72+. © 1998 United Nations Publications. COPYRIGHT 1986 Gale Group.

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