Member-countries of the Geneva Conference on Disarmament admitted new five members -- Kazakhstan, Ireland, Malaysia, Tunisia and Ecuador -- at their session on Thursday. Now the Conference includes 66 countries, including those states which possess nuclear weapons, as well as Byelorussia and Ukraine. A decision to this effect was made by consensus which is the key principle of the Conference. Diplomatic sources told Itar- Tass that the discussion of this issue will be sudden for many delegations. The five countries gave their applications long ago, but the Conference reached consensus only on August 5. According to some diplomats, it will be possible after India agrees with the Conference's position. Another 10 countries seek to join the Conference, but there is no unanimity on their applications. Vladimir Petrovsky, U.N. undersecretary-general and secretary-general of the Geneva Conference on Disarmament, told Itar-Tass that he described the admission of these five states to the Conference as an "important event". "... At present, the Conference on Disarmament includes those countries, which are the most important in the military field, i.e. they are the major producers and consumers of weapons...," Petrovsky said. Consensus pins new hopes for improving the work of the Conference on Disarmament. The countries cannot agree on what issues they should concentrate their attention. A group of non- aligned countries call for beginning talks on nuclear disarmament, but the nuclear great powers oppose it. For their part, the non-aligned countries try to prevent from starting negotiations to ban the production of fissile materials for military purposes. Petrovsky believes that the changes in the Conference "create new favourable prerequisites to convince the Conference to discuss issues which have been prepared for talks." These issues include the prohibition of producing fissile materials, the creation of security guarantees for non-nuclear states and the preventio ... Read more