Foreign Minister Federica Mogherini has invited the Group of Eminent Persons (GEM) to hold one of the next meetings in Italy, after the Stockholm meeting which she attended earlier this month (April 2014). The announcement was made by Ambassador Vinicio Mati, Italy’s permanent representative to the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva. Ambassador Mati had attended the third and last session of the Preparatory Committee for the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) Review Conference, to be held in 2015. Mogherini has been a member of GEM since it was first set up, in September 2013, with the aim of ensuring that the CTBT comes into force in a rapid timescale.
A commitment for disarmament
In his presentation, Ambassador Mati commented that “a commitment to disarmament and non-proliferation is an essential element of Italian foreign policy”. He recalled the Italian Parliament’s recent resolution committing the Government to play an active role in all the main international fora in the sector.
Principal disarmament goals
One of Italy’s principal goals in this area, noted Ambassador Mati, is the full implementation of the Action Plan – approved in 2010 at the last NPT Review Conference – and of the system of “negative security assurances”. He also reiterated Italy’s commitment to the rapid implementation of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty
