Geneva – Morocco’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Office in Geneva, Ambassador Omar Zniber, reaffirmed Tuesday the Kingdom’s steadfast commitment to multilateralism at a time when this cornerstone of international cooperation is being tested by increasingly complex and evolving global challenges.
Opening the first plenary session of the Conference on Disarmament (CD) under Morocco’s presidency, Zniber stressed that “flexibility, constructive engagement, and genuine political will are indispensable conditions for enabling this Conference to effectively fulfill its mandate.”
“In a rapidly changing international environment, only a spirit of compromise and shared responsibility will allow us to move forward collectively,” he said.
The diplomat underscored that Morocco, guided by the principles of moderation, openness, and inclusivity, stands ready to support all initiatives aimed at building consensus among Member States. “We are fully determined to strengthen both the Conference itself and its essential contribution to international peace and security,” he added, emphasizing that “dialogue must remain our primary instrument.”
Zniber also pledged to back efforts to revitalize the Conference’s work and restore its capacity to deliver tangible outcomes, describing the current state of institutional paralysis as untenable. “A body created to negotiate cannot indefinitely confine itself to debate,” he stated.
“A body created to negotiate cannot limit itself to debate in the long term,” the diplomat argued, warning of a deterioration in the strategic environment with the modernization of nuclear arsenals, a shift in doctrines towards greater ambiguity and risk, and the weakening of arms control mechanisms. These trends, he noted, mean that “the nuclear risk, which we once believed contained, is reemerging as a strategic reality.”
Such developments weaken trust, fuel competition, and narrow the space for dialogue, he cautioned, reiterating that “nuclear disarmament must remain the absolute priority.”
“As long as nuclear weapons exist, the risk of their use persists. Their total, irreversible, and verifiable elimination remains the only safeguard against this existential threat,” the diplomat stated.
Morocco is holding until March 13 the presidency of the CD, the UN’s only multilateral body responsible for negotiating disarmament treaties
