RP to preside over 2010 nuclear forum

MANILA, Philippines - The committee preparing for next year’s United Nations-backed Conference of States party to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) yesterday agreed that the Philippines will preside over the May 2010 meeting in New York.

Ambassador Boniface Chidyausiku of Zimbabwe, chairman of the preparatory committee’s third session held in New York last week, said the committee agreed on Libran Cabactulan, ambassador of the Philippines to the United Arab Emirates, as president of the 2010 conference.

Chidyausiku said the committee also agreed on an agenda which is a “good omen” for next year’s review of the 1970 treaty which must be reviewed every five years.

He noted that previous preparatory meetings had been unable to agree on agendas, causing delays in the main review sessions. Agenda discussions took up three weeks of the 2005 review.

“There’s a lot of good will, good political will in the air,” he said, citing specifically “the current relations between the US and the Russian Federation, and the willingness of the US administration to engage the international community.”

The agenda includes elaboration on the three pillars of the treaty – disarmament, non-proliferation and the peaceful use of nuclear energy – and discussions on nuclear-free zones.