Syria Takes over Presidency of Disarmament Conference at UN

GENEVA, (ST)- On May 28th, Syria takes over the presidency of the Conference on Disarmament at the UN in Geneva. This is the third time Syria presides over the conference since it joined it in 1996. This presidency term ends on June 26.

In a statement to SANA, Syria’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations and other international organizations in Geneva Husam Eddin Ala, who will chair the conference within the coming four weeks, stressed the extraordinary importance of Syria taking over the presidency of this significant international forum despite the opposition of the United States and Israel and after the failure of all the malicious Israeli media campaigns which has been trying over the past few weeks to disrupt and hinder Syria’s presidency of the conference.

 “Syria will deal with the conference’s requirements with full professionalism and responsibility and will work to defend its priorities and principles, mainly respecting the principles of international law and the UN Charter as well as the rules on which the conference on disarmament was based,” Ala said.

He reiterated the conference’s role in working to remove the risks that threaten international security and disrespect the principle of full security of all countries.

He affirmed that the issue of establishing zones that are free of nuclear arms and Weapons of Mass Destruction particularly in the Middle East in addition to the issue of fighting chemical and biological terrorism, which is on the agenda of the conference debates, have always been within the priorities of Syria in the conference on disarmament.

The current agenda of the conference includes issues relating to halting arms race, to nuclear weapon disarmament and to preventing the eruption of nuclear war.

Hamda Mustafa