Statement by H.E. Mr. Mitsuru Kitano, Permanent Representative, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Japan at the Forty-Third Session of the Preparatory Commission for the CTBTO

Thank you, Mr. Chairman,

On behalf of the Government of Japan, I would like to congratulate you for your election as a chair. We would like to bring our full support to you. I would also like to express my sincere gratitude to H.E. Ambassador Aliyar Lebbe Azeez, the Chair of Working Group A, Dr. Hein Haak, the Chair of Working Group B, and Sir Michael Weston, the Chair of the Advisory Group, for their dedicated work.

I would also like to thank Dr. Lassina Zerbo, the Executive Secretary, for his opening remarks. We note with appreciation that the Provisional Technical Secretariat has achieved a lot this year under his leadership.

Let me also take this opportunity to congratulate Dr. Nurcan Meral Özel on the assumption of her role as Director of the International Monitoring System Division.

[Promotion of Entry into force of the Treaty]

Mr. Chairman,

As for the Joint Ministerial Statement of the Seventh CTBT Ministerial Meeting held on 26 September, over 100 countries have already associated with it, exceeding the number of associating countries from the last meeting in 2012. My delegation appreciates the support for the Statement. It will be registered as a UN document within days.

Following the successful ministerial meeting and with a perspective of the upcoming Article XIV Conference next year, we need to maintain the political momentum toward the early entry into force and universalization of the Treaty, in cooperation with all States Signatories. Japan would like to devote its utmost support to this process.

Next year will mark the 70th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Japan will host a meeting of the Group of Eminent Persons (GEM) in Hiroshima next year to contribute to this process.

[The CTBTO Budget]

Mr. Chairman,

We would like to thank H.E. Ambassador Azeez for organizing the informal meetings on the budget. We believe that these informal sessions are useful and should be continued next year.

We also reiterate our appreciation for the sustained effort by the Provisional Technical Secretariat (PTS) to find savings and to streamline the budget, and would like to appeal to the PTS to continue such effort as have been done in the past. On the other hand, we acknowledge that there remains the possibility that further budget reduction may directly affect the implementation of the CTBTO’s mandate. From this point of view, we would like to support the Final Draft of the Programme and Budget for 2015 as proposed by the PTS, which we regard to be at an appropriate resource level.

As regards to the introduction of a biennial budgeting, we believe that such an approach is suitable for the CTBTO, an organization with the need for long term funding, and we strongly support the introduction of biennial budgeting starting from the 2016-2017 budgetary cycle.

The detailed changes to the Financial Regulations and Rules required to accommodate biennial budgeting need to be promptly and fully examined by States Signatories. We expect that the proposals for changes to the Financial Regulations and Rules will be examined at the AG and WGA to be decided at the Preparatory Commission in the first half of the next year. My delegation understands the rationale behind the proposal for “multiyear funding modalities”. At the same time, we first need to thoroughly discuss the various points raised by the States Signatories.

[Working Groups of the CTBTO]

Please allow me to take this opportunity to express our sincere gratitude to Dr. Haak for his excellent leadership since 2006. We believe it is essential that the Chair of WGB has a thorough understanding of the science and technology of the verification regime, and hope that the most appropriate candidate will be chosen as a new chair of WGB.

Mr. Chairman

We also commend your leadership in proposing procedures for the appointment of the chairpersons and vice-chairpersons of the subsidiary bodies of the Commission and for convening informal consultations on thissubject. In this regard, we recognize the necessity to supplement the existing rules and welcome the discussion held on this issue. Since the mandate of each working group and the requirement of each working group chair arenot the same, it is necessary to reflect such difference in the requirements and terms of appointment for each working group chair in an appropriate manner.

[IFE14]

Mr. Chairman,

We hope that the High-Level visits to the Integrated Field Exercise in 2014 (IFE14), which will take place in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan next month, will facilitate our comprehension of the verification regime and heighten the momentum toward the entry into force of the Treaty in the Middle East and eventually worldwide.

It is important to follow up the IFE14 by evaluating the exercise itself and the lessons learnt from it. To this end, we welcome the current plan to hold two workshops after the IFE14 as positive steps, and express our gratitude for the effort made by the parties concerned in this regard.

[Concluding Remark]

Mr. Chairman,

Let me conclude by expressing Japan’s sincere hope that during this PrepCom constructive discussion will be held with the prospect of contributing towards achieving our common goals of early entry into force of the Treaty and the establishment of the verification regime.

I thank you, Mr. Chairman.