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US Arms Control Official Flies to Geneva for Disarmament Conference - State Dept

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - US Assistant Secretary of State for Arms Control, Verification and Compliance Yleem Poblete will speak at the reopening of the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva, the Department of State said in a media note on Friday.
Sputnik

"Assistant Secretary of State for Arms Control, Verification and Compliance will travel to Geneva, Switzerland March 17-20, 2019", the note said. "[She] will deliver the opening statement for the United States on March 19 to launch the US presidency of the Conference on Disarmament".

The State Department said Poblete will also conduct bilateral and multilateral meetings in support of the US arms control, verification and compliance agenda.

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"She will participate in a side event opposing anti-Israel bias in the UN system, as well as another event promoting international efforts to restore democracy to Venezuela", the note said. The presidency of the Conference on Disarmament rotates among member states in alphabetical order, with each member state serving a four-week term, according to the note.

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The Conference on Disarmament is a multilateral annual forum on disarmament that brings together 65 member states. The event is usually held in three parts over several months. The first part of the 2019 conference started on 21 January and will run until 29 March.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will also participate in the plenary session of the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva.

During the 2018 Conference on Disarmament, Lavrov stated that Russia had achieved outstanding results in this area and had reduced its nuclear arsenal by over 85 percent compared to the height of the Cold War.

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