WORKSHOP ON IMPLEMENTING SECURITY COUNCIL RESOLUTION 1540 (2004)

TO BE HELD IN COLOMBO, SRI LANKA, 23-25 JUNE

NEW YORK, 19 June (Office for Disarmament Affairs) -- A regional workshop on implementation of Security Council resolution 1540 (2004) will be held on 23-25 June in Colombo, Sri Lanka.  The workshop is jointly organized by Sri Lanka and the United States, in cooperation with the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs.

The objective of the workshop is to promote capacity-building on national and regional levels to advance full implementation of resolution 1540 (2004).  Officials from the Governments from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, as well as representatives of a number of international, regional and subregional organizations, have been invited to participate.  A representative of the 1540 Committee and its experts will also attend the workshop.

On 28 April 2004, the Security Council unanimously adopted resolution 1540 under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter, obliging all States to refrain from providing any form of support to non-State actors that attempt to develop, acquire, manufacture, possess, transport, transfer or use nuclear, chemical or biological weapons and their means of delivery.  Under resolution 1540 (2004), all States are to establish domestic controls to prevent the proliferation of these weapons of mass destruction and their means of delivery, including by establishing appropriate controls over related materials.

For further information, contact Gabriele Kraatz-Wadsack at tel.: +1 212 963 3633.

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For information media • not an official record