国連小型武器行動計画（PoA）第9回隔年会合（BMS9）における梅津大使ステートメント

Thank you, Mr. Chair.
 
At the outset, allow me to express my sincerest congratulations to you, Ambassador Larsen of Australia, on your election as the Chair of the Ninth Biennial Meeting. I assure you of my delegation’s full support and cooperation throughout this week.

Mr. Chair,

Since its adoption, the Programme of Action (PoA) has played the central role in strengthening efforts to address small arms and light weapons (SALW) issues around the world.

However, as the Secretary-General’s report released last year confirmed, the proliferation, misuse and diversion of small arms and light weapons have remained drivers of armed violence and have caused regional insecurity, terrorism and crime to escalate in various countries.

Against this background, Japan, together with Colombia and South Africa, has submitted annual resolutions against the illicit trade in SALW to the General Assembly to further promote the implementation of the PoA, the most recent of which was adopted by consensus in 2025.

Mr. Chair,

This Meeting will provide us with a great opportunity to give direction to the implementation of the PoA and the International Tracing Instrument (ITI), based on the action-oriented measures adopted at the 4th Review Conference in 2024.

My delegation considers the circulated draft outcome document to be a good basis with its conciseness and balanced listing of concrete measures based on past consensus language.

On the preamble section and section A, Japan can support the current language in principal, including para 15 on the complementarities between the PoA, ITI and other relevant instruments.

Mr. Chair,

As a main contributor to the Saving Lives Entity or SALIENT fund, and donor to several cooperation projects including in Kenya, Sudan and Western Africa, we also look forward to fruitful discussions on how to strengthen the implementation of the PoA with regard to international assistance. To call for timely support to the second phase of SALIENT fund, Japan supports its specific reference in para 58.

In concluding, Japan is ready to contribute to the successful conclusion of the Meeting and to reaffirm our strong commitment by adopting the outcome document by consensus.

I thank you.