NATO, Partners to discuss Weapons in Helsinki

Finland will host the NATO Conference on Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD), Arms Control, Disarmament and Non-proliferation in Helsinki on 29–30 May, 2017, said a government press release.

The conference, organised annually in one of the NATO member countries or partner countries, will be attended by a large number of experts.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Timo Soini will open the conference to be chaired by NATO’s Assistant Secretary General for Emerging Security Challenges, Ambassador Sorin Ducaru.

NATO’s Deputy Secretary General Rose Gottemoeller will address the conference in a video message.

The main themes on the agenda will include the use of chemical weapons in Syria, the situation in North Korea, and the future of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and nuclear disarmament. There will be a separate bilateral programme for some of the conference participants.

The conference will be attended, among others, by Lassina Zerbo, Executive Secretary of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO), and Izumi Nakamitsu, Under-Secretary-General and High Representative for Disarmament Affairs at the Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA).