RP pushes for global disarmament

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippines has made a final push to move the stalled global disarmament agenda forward at the last day of the month-long 2010 Review Conference of State Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons in New York.

In a statement, the Department of Foreign Affairs said that Ambassador Libran Cabactulan, president of the 2010 NPT Review Conference, presented the draft of a final document he formulated and which is hoped to be approved by states-parties before the conference adjourns last night.

“We have worked and toiled together these past four weeks. Our work is about to come to an end. Let us share in successfully concluding all our exertions and all our work,” Cabactulan said.

“It is my hope that we can mark that success by adopting this document tomorrow. It is my fervent wish that all the little seeds of hope that we planted together throughout the Review Conference will bear fruit,” he said.

Cabactulan, the Philippine Permanent Representative to the United Nations, said he had decided to put together the draft final document after States-Parties could not agree on a number of proposals intended to advance the NPT agenda, such as a timeline for disarmament, the proposal to set up a nuclear weapon-free zone in the Middle East, mandatory nuclear inspections and penalties for withdrawing from the treaty.

Saying he had listened very carefully to all views presented by NPT States-Parties, Cabactulan said the action plan he presented was “the very best that can be offered given the complexities of the issues and the diverging and sometimes even diametrically opposed positions taken on some issues.”