Pankaj Sharma appointed India’s Ambassador to UN Conference on Disarmament

Pankaj Sharma has been appointed as ambassador and India’s permanent representative to United Nations Conference on Disarmament in Geneva, an official statement said. He will replace Amandeep Gill. Sharma is currently joint secretary (Disarmament and International Security Division) in Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).

UN Conference on Disarmament

UN Conference on Disarmament (CD) is not formally United Nations (UN) organization. It is linked to UN through personal representative of UN Secretary-General. It is multilateral forum established in 1979 by international community to negotiate multilateral arms control and disarmament agreements. It is headquartered in Palais des Nations, Geneva, Switzerland.
The conference has 65 members represent all areas of the world, including all known nuclear-weapon states (including India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea) Resolutions adopted by UN General Assembly often request conference to consider specific disarmament matters. In turn, conference annually reports its activities to UNGA.
In the 1990s, the Conference had held intensive efforts to draft CTBT text and its two annexes, but it did not succeed in reaching consensus on the adoption of the text. Currently UNCD conducts discussion on Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty (FMCT), a pact to prevent an arms race in outer space, nuclear disarmament and negative security assurances (NSA).

Month: Current Affairs - October, 2018