Morocco has reaffirmed its strong commitment to multilateral cooperation and nuclear disarmament as it assumed the presidency of the United Nations Conference on Disarmament, with its top diplomat in Geneva warning of growing global security risks and institutional paralysis within the body.
Opening the first plenary session of the Conference on Disarmament (CD), Morocco’s Permanent Representative to the UN Office in Geneva, Omar Zniber, stressed that flexibility, constructive engagement and genuine political will are essential for the forum to effectively carry out its mandate at a time when international cooperation is being tested by increasingly complex global challenges.
Zniber underlined that only “a spirit of compromise and shared responsibility” would enable member states to move forward collectively in a rapidly changing international environment. He said Morocco, guided by principles of moderation, openness and inclusivity, stands ready to support all initiatives aimed at building consensus and strengthening the Conference’s contribution to international peace and security, insisting that dialogue must remain the primary instrument of action.
The Moroccan diplomat also pledged to back efforts to revitalize the work of the Conference on Disarmament, describing the current institutional paralysis as untenable. “A body created to negotiate cannot indefinitely confine itself to debate,” he stated, warning that prolonged stagnation risks undermining the forum’s credibility and effectiveness.
Zniber cautioned that the strategic environment is deteriorating due to the modernization of nuclear arsenals, increasing doctrinal ambiguity, and the weakening of arms-control mechanisms. These trends, he said, have led to the re-emergence of nuclear risk as a tangible strategic reality, eroding trust among states, intensifying competition and narrowing the space for dialogue.
Reiterating that nuclear disarmament must remain the absolute priority, he emphasized that as long as nuclear weapons exist, the risk of their use persists, and that their total, irreversible and verifiable elimination remains the only true safeguard against what he described as an existential threat.
Morocco will hold the rotating presidency of the Conference on Disarmament until March 13. The Geneva-based body is the United Nations’ sole multilateral forum mandated to negotiate global disarmament treaties.
