The First Meeting of States Parties to the Convention on Cluster Munitions: Japan Reports the Implementation of Projects Totaling 12 Million US Dollars

November 12, 2010

The First Meeting of States Parties to the Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM) was held from November 9 to 12 in Vientiane, the Lao People's Democratic Republic. As the first meeting of States Parties since the entry into force of the Convention in August 2010, it provided an opportunity to set a new stage to turn the vision of the Convention into action. During the meeting, discussions took place on specific operational issues relating to the implementation of the Convention, such as universalization of the Convention and the destruction of stockpiled cluster munitions. Adopting the 2010 Vientiane Declaration and the Vientiane Action Plan by consensus, which present the direction for States Parties and signatory States in making specific efforts in the next five years, the States Parties affirmed their commitment to end the harm caused by cluster munitions.

From Japan, Mr. Hisashi Tokunaga, Parliamentary Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs, attended the meeting. In his statement, Mr. Tokunaga explained that as a Friend of the President on universalization, Japan was taking a leading role in this area by cooperating with partner States and civil society representatives, and that Japan had been supporting the clearance of unexploded ordnance (UXO), including cluster munitions, and their victims, with assistance amounting to about 12 million US dollars since the time of signing of the Convention. Parliamentary Vice-Minister Tokunaga furthermore expressed Japan's determination to continue to play an active role in this field. Japan was commended for making important contributions to the success of the meeting, including the assistance Mr. Akio Suda, Ambassador of Japan to the Conference on Disarmament, had provided to the President of the Meeting from Laos as the Vice-President.