Minister UN bound

The Environment and Disarmament and Arms Control Minister leaves on Sunday for two meetings at the United Nations after completing a round of ANZAC Day engagements.

Marian Hobbs will represent New Zealand at the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty meeting before attending the ministerial segment of the Commission on Sustainable Development.

"The NPT is the main international mechanism for controlling the spread of nuclear weapons, and contains the only multilateral treaty commitment to nuclear disarmament on the part of the five nuclear weapon states (US, UK, France, Russian Federation and China)," Marian Hobbs said.

" New Zealand will have an opportunity to emphasise the importance we attach to the disarmament pillar of the NPT process.

"The Commission on Sustainable Development will review progress on implementing what was agreed at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg regarding water, sanitation and human settlements.

"The Commission will take the new approach of breaking down the areas of agreed priority into more manageable bite-sized pieces. Key questions will include: How are we doing in achieving what we all committed to? And, what obstacles do we need to shift to make the World Summit aspirations a reality? It is vital that New Zealand tracks its progress in sustainable development and learns from the experiences of other countries.

"The New York meeting will be hugely relevant to the central role we've been given in chairing the lead-up negotiations for the UN meeting on the sustainable development of small island states in Mauritius in August. We are well-placed to ensure that this meeting will produce practical results for the small islands in our region."

Marian Hobbs will return to New Zealand on Monday week, May 3

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