General Assembly General Assembly
 

 

 

 

Mr. Chairman,
 
 
India associates itself with the statement delivered by Indonesia on behalf of the Non-Aligned Movement. 
 
 
2. India remains committed to the ideals enshrined in the UN Charter and to multilateralism in pursuit of those ideals. This is truly the age of interdependence. Enduring solutions to our common problems of peace and security can only be found through the pursuit of genuine multilateralism.
 
 
3. The UN has a central role and primary responsibility in the sphere of disarmament. In our view, the disarmament machinery established by SSOD-I almost four decades ago, consisting of the triad of the First Committee, the United Nations Disarmament Commission (UNDC) and the Conference on Disarmament (CD) remains both valid and relevant today.
 
 
Mr. Chairman,
 
 
4. For all the difficulties the Conference on Disarmament faces today, its significance for my country remains undiminished. It brings together its member States in sovereign equality and in full responsibility to craft legally-binding instruments for the promotion of international peace and security. It is the right place for pursuing nuclear disarmament in all its essential elements, as it has the mandate, the membership and the rules for embarking on this path.
 
 
5. That the CD, despite the well-intentioned efforts of many, has been blocked by the security exclusivism of some or a confidence-deficit in others, is unfortunate as it is unworthy of its noble mandate. The CD has proved its usefulness in the past and can no doubt demonstrate its credibility again. India, for its part, remains committed to the founding principles and objectives of the CD.We support all efforts aimed at the CD reaching consensus on its Programme of Work to commence early substantive work and to deliver on its negotiating mandate. While we share the disappointment that the CD has yet again been prevented from adopting a Programme of Work this year, we value the work conducted under the Way Ahead Working Group chaired by Ambassador Htin Lynn of Myanmar.
 
 
Mr. Chairman, 
 
 
6. India attaches importance to the UNDC as a universal deliberative forum for building consensus on disarmament and international security issues. We welcome the adoption, by consensus, after a hiatus of 17 years, of the recommendations of its Working Group II on 'Practical confidence-building measures in the field of conventional weapons'. 
 
 
7. We also welcome the successful convening,in 2016 and 17,of the three sessions of the Open-Ended Working Group on SSOD-IV, which concluded its work, by adopting, again by consensus, its recommendations on the objectives and agenda of the SSOD-IV. We look forward to the convening of the SSOD-IV, which we believe can be an invaluable opportunity to assess progress made in nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation in all its aspects.
 
 
Mr. Chairman, 
 
 
8. It is very important for the triad of the disarmament machinery, as well as UNIDIR and the UNSG's Advisory Board on Disarmament Matters to function as a composite whole, so that ideas can flow and progress made in one institution can be leveraged in the other, towards our common goal of a world free of nuclear weapons. We believe that UNIDIR needs to be fully enabled with resources to realize its potential. While India has made its voluntary contribution this year, we believe that the Institute deserves greater support from the regular budget of the UN so as to maintain its autonomy and independence and to fulfil its role of providing in-depth research on disarmament issues. 
 
 
9. In conclusion, Mr Chairman, there is an impression amongst some that our failure in addressing substantive disarmament and international security issues is due to procedural flaws and inherent inefficiency in the disarmament machinery. We must remind ourselves that a bad workman often quarrels with his tools. In pursuit of our collective security in an increasingly interdependent world, we have no alternative other than to strengthen the multilateral ideal and the institutions it engenders. 
 
 
Thank you.