31 December 2002
U.N. Adoption of Revised Iraq Goods Review List Pleases U.S.
(Ambassador Cunningham says resolution meets concerns of the Security Council) (1070) The United States welcomed the adoption December 30 of a United Nations Security Council Resolution 1454 expanding the Iraq Goods Review List. Deputy U.S. Representative to the U.N. James Cunningham, told reporters that the resolution meets both U.S. goals and the concerns of other Security Council members. "The scope, the intent, the thrust of the effort was certainly shared by all the Council members and ... we've also established through this process and the Resolution that this will now be an ongoing, dynamic process to ensure that the list is as precise and as relevant as it can be and that dual-use materials -- items of military consequence -- are not making it through the system," said Cunningham at a Security Council stakeout December 30. Asked about the potential civilian/military use of items sought be Iraq, such as auto-injectors, Cunningham noted that the ceilings on importing these items would be determined by careful study. "The established levels are something that need to be established. There are several ways one can do that, either statistically on the basis of what a normal range of consumption is for a population of a certain number under certain conditions or based on historical record of what has been consumed specifically in Iraq and that is a task that now has to be -- it is a technical job -- that needs to be done," he noted. The resolution was adopted December 30, by a vote of 13-0 with the Russian Federation and Syria abstaining. Following is a transcript of remarks by Ambassador Cunningham: (begin transcript) United States Mission to the United Nations USUN PRESS RELEASE # 221 (02) December 30, 2002 CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY Remarks by Ambassador James B. Cunningham, Deputy United States Representative to the United Nations, following the Vote on the Iraq Goods Review List Resolution, Security Council Stakeout, December 30, 2002 Ambassador Cunningham: Happy New Year to you. The United States is pleased with the outcome today; it meets the goals we set for ourselves when we first brought this issue before the Council. We've done the job we set out -- we've done it well within the timeframe we envisaged -- I guess 27 days or so ago. The items that we wanted to address have been addressed. It has been done in a way that meets the concerns of the other members of the Council, certainly the vast majority of concerns of the other members of the Council, there is of course a Russian concern, as Ambassador Lavrov set out. We think the Resolution should have been adopted by consensus but we are quite satisfied with the overwhelming majority; and certainly to address the question that was put to Ambassador Greenstock before, Iraq should not take any particular message from the fact that it wasn't adopted by consensus. The scope, the intent, the thrust of the effort was certainly shared by all the Council members and as I said, we got the job done within the timeframe and we've also established through this process and the Resolution that this will now be an ongoing, dynamic process to ensure that the list is as precise and as relevant as it can be and that dual-use materials -- items of military consequence -- are not making it through the system. Reporter: There are a number of references to items which talk about established consumption rates, auto-injectors, Atropine and these things. I'm not aware that there are any established consumption rates or if you could give us some indication of what those are and my understanding was that the U.S. position had been that there were no non-military uses for auto-injectors. Is that not the case; are there other potential uses? Ambassador Cunningham: I'm not an expert in auto-injectors but I think one can imagine that there might be some hospital or other uses for them but the preponderance is, in large quantities, would be for military use. The established levels are something that need to be established. There are several ways one can do that, either statistically on the basis of what a normal range of consumption is for a population of a certain number under certain conditions or based on historical record of what has been consumed specifically in Iraq and that is a task that now has to be -- it is a technical job -- that needs to be done. Reporter: (inaudible) Ambassador Cunningham: I think the Secretary-General has called on Iraq; he has called on them to do that. Reporter: Ambassador, is it the U.S. position that all members of the Security Council should have access to those Iraqi scientists that were turned over during the weekend for its own examination? Ambassador Cunningham: I don't think we've taken a look at that yet so I'm not going to address that. Reporter: Will the U.S. be doing anything this week on the subject of North Korea to bring it before the Council or is the position definitely to wait until the IAEA makes a determination next weekend? Ambassador Cunningham: Secretary Powell addressed North Korea extensively over the weekend and I don't have anything to add to that. Anything else on the Goods Review List? Reporter: Could you explain why you believe that losing the Russians, or at least having a Russian abstention on this, was not a high price to pay in a negotiation where you might have had them on board if you had waited a little longer? Ambassador Cunningham: It wasn't a question of waiting; we've been having a very rich conversation with the Russians here and bilaterally between Washington and Moscow trying to come to agreement on this. We were able to meet many of their concerns in the course of this discussion, but there was one specific item with regard to trucks where we had a difference of view. We urged them to join the consensus and continue that discussion; they decided to abstain and continue that discussion, but it was over a very narrow item. Given the complexity and breadth of this discussion, it has to be seen in that context. Thank you. Reporter: France openly criticized the manner in which this was handled. Do you take those criticisms as fair? Ambassador Cunningham: No. Thank you. (end transcript) (Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
