I would like to extend my warm greetings to the participants of the CD thematic meeting dedicated to the anniversary of the Second Hague Peace Conference.

The Hague Conference, convened in 1907 on the initiative of Russia with representatives of 44 States in attendance, made an invaluable contribution to the establishment of the modern system of international law. Thanks to the willingness to reach compromise the diplomats managed to carry out a large-scale codification of the laws and customs of war. The resulting documents of the Conference became the first attempt to restrict the right to war, an important step towards securing a principle of peaceful settlement of disputes in international law. With the exception of one Convention, all of them are still in force and play a significant role in the contemporary interaction between States.

As 110 years ago, Russia remains deeply committed to the course of developing viable and efficient multilateral agreements, including those in the field of arms control, disarmament and nonproliferation. In recent years together with the like-minded States we came up with a variety of initiatives aimed at preventing an arms race in outer space, strengthening the regime of the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention, elaborating an international convention on the suppression of acts of chemical and biological terrorism. We note with satisfaction that they are enjoying wide international support.

We are positive that the prerequisite for successful implementation of these and other initiatives is a harmonious work of the United Nations multilateral disarmament  machinery, first of all, of the Conference on Disarmament as a forum unique in terms of its membership, agenda and expertise. We hope that its Member States will succeed in reaching compromise on the Programme of Work for the benefit of resuming negotiations in Geneva.

I wish you fruitful discussions and all the best.

                                                                                              S.LAVROV

Moscow, February, 2017