First Round of Peer Review of the Implementation of the UN SC Resolution 1540

02 August 2016

02-08-2016

On August 2, 2016 the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Belarus hosted the opening ceremony of the peer review of the implementation of the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1540.

In his opening speech, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Belarus, Valentin Rybakov, stressed that the issues of non-proliferation remain invariably among the priorities of Belarus in the field of international security.

V.Rybakov noted that Belarus was the first post-Soviet state to voluntarily refuse the opportunity to possess the weapons of mass destruction, and in 1996 its withdrawal from Belarusian territory was completed. Moreover, within the framework of the First Committee of the UN General Assembly Belarus initiated the adoption of the resolution «Prohibition of the development and manufacture of new types of weapons of mass destruction and new systems of such weapons: report of the Conference on Disarmament». This resolution supplements to certain extend the UNSCR 1540.

The representatives of relevant ministries and other state agencies of Belarus, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, responsible for the implementation of the provisions of the UNSCR 1540, as well as the experts of the OSCE, the UN and the UNSC 1540 Committee, are taking part in the event.

The peer review is the second event of such kind in the OSCE area and in the world in general, and this is the first meeting in the trilateral format.

The essence of peer review is the exchange of expert visits with any interested state on UNSCR 1540 implementation matters. This joint review is aimed at progress evaluation in the field of UNSCR 1540 implementation, exchange of experience and national practices of its fulfilment.

Basing on the results of the work, the participating States will elaborate the joint report and submit it later to the UNSC 1540 Committee and the UN Security Council.