Statement by Minister for Foreign Affairs Yoriko Kawaguchi on the UN First Biennial Meeting of States to Consider the Implementation of the Programme of Action on Small Arms

July 12, 2003
Japanese

The Government of Japan welcomes the fact that the UN First Biennial Meeting of States on Small Arms held since July 7 at the UN Headquarters in New York has drawn to a successful close with the chairperson's summary. The Government of Japan considers that the Meeting has been of great significance as it advances the international community's efforts at tackling small arms issues.
Recognizing that unified efforts by the international community are needed to address small arms issues so that obstacles to post-conflict humanitarian assistance and rehabilitation assistance will be eliminated, the Government of Japan has demonstrated its initiatives by, for example, submitting draft resolutions on small arms to the U.N. General Assembly almost every year since 1995 when then U.N. General Secretary Boutros Boutros-Ghali raised the issue of small arms with the international community.
Since the preparatory stage of the Meeting, Japan, as its chair (Chairperson: Ambassador Kuniko Inoguchi, the Permanent Representative of Japan to the Conference on Disarmament), has been working on the U.N. and its member countries for the success of the Meeting. Based on the results of the Meeting, Japan intends to increase its proactive efforts at preventing the illicit trade of small arms.

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