Oct. 28, 1996

Statement by Ambassador Lars Magnuson Director-General for Legal Affairs Representative of Sweden

Mr. Chairman,

[...] Nobody questioned the need for the establishment of the court. Every speaker recognized that substantial progress had been made, particularly as regards questions of a more legal-techincal nature. everybody recognized that in some areas options had been narrowed and texts consolidated. Although views differed as to how much further work would be needed to reach a stage of preparation conductive to the holding of a diplomatic conference, all speakers recognized that some more preparatory work had to be done. Many recognized the need for a dead-line to give additional impetus to the negotiations. Many speakers offered the view that some of the more politically sensitive questions could be solved only at the conference. While a fair majority of those speaking favoured a conference to be held already in 1997, others who wanted more time accepted the possibility of holding it in 1998.

This very encouraging narrowing of differencies is reflected in the Preparatory Committee's conclusions, which were so ably negotiated by its Chairman, Mr Adriaan Bos, to whom we owe the gratest gratitude. My delegation strongly supports these conclusions, not because they represent our national preference but because they reflect the most widely acceptable compromise. We urge this Committee to accept them and, following the consensus resolution of last year, to decide, at this session of the General Assembly, on the convening of the diplomatic conference. We listened with satisfaction to the generous offer of the Government of Italy to host a diplomatic conference in June 1998. The agreed schedule of further preparatory work enables the coference to be held at that time. Let this be our decision.

In conclusion, let me add that Sweden continues to have an attentive attitude to the valuable input from NGOs. The Swedish delegation continues to stand ready to pursue actively this historic project in close and constructive cooperation with other delegations.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman