Accelerated negotiations on a chemical weapons ban asked.

• Position: Conference on Disarmament

The 40-nation Conference on Disarmament heard a renewed appeal from Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar to 'quicken the pace' of its negotiations on a chemical weapons ban as it opened the first part of its 1989 session on 7 February in Geneva. The Final Declaration of the 1989 Paris Conference, he said, together with disamament resolutions adopted by the forty-third General Assembly, reflected international consensus on the need to conclude, at the earliest date, a global convention to prohibit chemical weapons.

"We are witnessing the beginnings of an historic and formative change in international relations", said Mr. Perez de Cuellar, adding that confrontation was giving way to dialogue in many spheres. That change had been brought about by the working of "vast and diverse" forces in international life, but it was given focus and expression by the UN.

While issues of arms limitation and disarmament should be addressed also at the bilateral, regional and subregional levels, there was no substitute for global measures of disarmament.

Conference President for February, Aldo Pugliese of Italy, said stock should be taken of the progress achieved in past months and a more precise identification at the third special Assembly session on disarmament of existing difficulties and of potential technical and political options for solving them. Encouraging signs of a comprehensive ban on chemical weapons had been seen.

During February and March, the Conference re-established five ad hoc committees to continue work on banning chemical and radiological weapons, preventing an arms race in outer space, a comprehensive programme of disarmament, and international arrangements to assure non-nuclear-weapon States against the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons.

It was unable, however, to agree on how to deal with the agenda items on a nuclear test ban; cessation of the nuclear arms race and nuclear disarmament; and prevention of nuclear war.

Sweden proposed that the Conference add to its agenda the issue of a multilateral agreement for the prevention of incidents at sea, to ensure that "accidents, technical malfunctioning or misunderstanding do not determine the course of history".

Chusei Yamada of Japan, President for March, said three nuclear issues" on its agenda still needed to find an appropriate organizational framework for consideration. Unfortunately, since 1983 it had not been possible to find an acceptable arrangement for dealing with the...