MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

UN sponsored disarmament events in Korea and Brazil

Two United Nations disarmament events kick off Tuesday in the Republic of Korea (ROK) and Brazil as part of the world body's efforts to promote the non-proliferation of weapons across the globe.

The seventh annual Joint Conference on Disarmament and Non-proliferation issues, organized by the UN Office for Disarmament Affairs and the ROK, is taking place on Jeju Island. This year's conference will focus on such concerns as revitalizing the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) process, the nuclear renaissance, a multilateral assurance mechanism for nuclear fuel supply, and non-proliferation challenges in North-East Asia. Some 40 representatives of governments, international organizations, academic and research institutions, as well as civil society are expected to participate. The annual event, which has been hosted by ROK since 2002, is a forum for dialogue and the exchange of views on pressing security and disarmament-related issues facing the international community, addressing particular disarmament and non-proliferation concerns in the Asia-Pacific region. Meanwhile, in the Brazilian city of São Paulo, the Office for Disarmament Affairs has organized a week-long workshop on implementing Security Council resolution 1540. That resolution, adopted by the Council in 2004, focuses on the non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. The workshop aims to enhance national capacities for the management of export control processes at a practical level as well as to improve information and experience-sharing between national expert control and enforcement authorities.