STATEMENT OF THE GROUP OF 77 AND CHINA DURING THE 28TH SESSION
OF WORKING GROUP B OF THE COMPREHENSIVE NUCLEAR-TEST-BAN TREATY ORGANISATION,
5-16 FEBRUARY 2007 DELIVERED BY H.E. AMBASSADOR SAYED GALAL E. ELAMIN, PERMANENT
REPRESENTATIVE OF SUDAN
Chairperson,
At the outset, let me once more express the satisfaction of the State Signatories
of the Group of 77 and China in seeing you chairing the 28th Session of Working
Group B of the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban
Treaty Organization in 2007. The Group is confident that under your stewardship,
discussions will lead to fruitful conclusions and I assure you of our full cooperation.
Chairperson,
The Group commends the PTS for the professional manner in which it has implemented
the pilot project for the participation of technical experts from developing
countries in official meetings of the Preparatory Commission for the CTBTO in
accordance with the agreed selection criteria and management guidelines. The
Group also extends a warm welcome to the three experts that have been selected
to attend the sessions of Working Group B in 2007, namely
Dr Norbert Opiyo Akech, University of Nairobi (Kenya)
Dr Edmundo Oswaldo Norabuena, Instituto Geofisico del Peru (Peru)
Mr Thawatchai Itthipoonthanakorn, Office of Atoms for Peace, Ministry of Science
and Technology (Thailand)
The Group is optimistic that the attendance and participation of the aforementioned
experts from developing countries will positively contribute to the work of
this session of Working Group B. The Group is of the view that the selection
of experts should not be limited to only 3, but ideally to 9 as enumerated in
the Group's original proposal. The Group calls on all States Signatories to
make voluntary contributions to the fund created for this purpose in order to
allow the full implementation of the pilot project.
Chairperson,
The Group would like to reiterate the views expressed in its previous statements,
in particular that the proposal for the 2008 Programme and Budget should be
guided by the following main elements:
- The actual prospect of the Entry into Force of the Treaty (EIF),
- The capabilities of the Member States to pay their assessed contributions,
- The capability of the PTS to consolidate the budget,
- Budget proposals should reflect zero real growth.
The Group would like to reiterate its call that the budget should be realistic
and reasonable to cover the cost of the build-up and provisional operation and
maintenance of the International Monitoring System in the most efficient manner.
The budget should also take into consideration the near completion of the IMS
system. The Group appreciates the efforts of the PTS to keep State Signatories
informed of any additional costs on the process of establishing the verification
regime.
As enumerated previously by the PTS during 2006, the Group believes that the
programme and budget should be adjusted based on the completion of the PTS restructuring
at the end of 2007.
Chairperson,
The Group recalls the decision of the 26th Session Part II of Working Group
B that established a set of principles and operating rules for the provision
of data related to tsunami warning organizations. In this regard, the Group
reiterates its view that data for tsunami warning purposes shall be provided
without prejudice to the objective and purpose of the CTBT, shall not detract
from the function and integrity of the IMS, or infringe upon the confidentiality
of information, nor add any additional financial burden on States Signatories,
especially from developing countries. The Group is of the view that there may
be a need to review this decision periodically to assess the usefulness of the
transmission of such data for Tsunami warning purposes including in relation
to confidentiality issues.
Chairperson,
The Group welcomes the decision of Part II of the 27th Session of the Preparatory
Commission to task the Working Group B to re-examine the duration and organization
of its meetings, including avoiding the holding of parallel sessions. In this
regard, the Group attaches great importance to the transparency of the process
of this revision by Working Group B of its working methodology. The Group requests
that WGB provide a progress report on the revision of its work methodology at
the June 2007 PrepCom and that an open ended working group be established to
provide proposals in this regard for a final decision at the November 2007 Preparatory
Commission meeting.
The Group believes that this revision should be prepared taking into account
the following:
- The prospect of entry into force of the Treaty,
- That the verification system of the Treaty is almost completed,
- Prioritizing the topics and issues,
- Reducing the financial burden on all State Signatories, especially developing
countries, as contained in document CTBT/PC/27/CL/2,
- Meetings should not overlap or run parallel with other meetings of UN bodies
in Vienna,
- Reducing the number and duration of the meetings of the policy-making organs
since the developing countries face with considerable strain to effectively
participate in the meetings,
- That Working Group B meetings be shortened to two sessions of two weeks each
in February and August,
- No parallel meetings should be held in Working Group B.
Chairperson,
The Group takes note of the document CTBT/WGB/TL-18/32 on advancing the
second round process of OSI Operational Manual elaboration as well as the proposal
of the Task Leader to begin the new formal process for elaboration of the draft
Operational Manual. The Group also proposes that since all delegations may not
use or have problem with the ECS system, the hard copy of the documents be distributed
to the States Signatories before the Working Group B meetings.
Chairperson,
The Group takes note of the document CTBT/PTS/INF.749/Rev.2 on refinements
to IS60 stations and CTBT/PTS/INF.866 on the legal aspects of this change and
thanks the PTS for preparing these documents. In this regard, the Group would
like to express the following concerns and observations:
- The changing of coordinates involving a distance of more than 1500 km is
beyond what is defined in the Treaty,
- This change of location from one country to another deviates from the Treaty
and further clarification is required in this regard,
- The rationale provided by the PTS (destroyed bridge) does not sufficiently
explain the need for the change in location and the PTS should continue its
negotiations with the host country to find alternative means to solve this problem,
- The Prepcom should make its decisions on a sound basis so as to facilitate
the decision making of the initial Conference of the States Parties after the
entry into force of the Treaty, rather than to complicate this process and put
the burden on the Conference of the States Parties.
