Mr. President, my delegation congratulates you on your election as the President of the Seventh Conference of High Contracting Parties to Protocol V. I assure you of the full support of my delegation in ensuring the success of this meeting. Let me also congratulate other members of the bureau on their election.

Mr. President, India is fully committed to the CCW and the humanitarian principles enshrined in the Convention. We have ratified all five Protocols of the Convention as well as amended Article I. We attach high importance to Protocol V which is evident in our active involvement in both the negotiations and the implementation of this Protocol. We held the Presidency of the CCW in 2002-03 when Protocol V was negotiated and were among the first 20 countries which ratified Protocol V that led to its entry into force. We were privileged to be the President of the Third Conference of Protocol V in 2009. We have also coordinated the work on Article 4 Generic Electronic Template and National Reporting.

We believe that the implementation of the Protocol has made solid progress inter alia through the informal mechanism of the Meeting of Experts. Timely implementation of obligations under Protocol V, including submission of national reports, is of high significance. India has institutionalized mechanisms for effective implementation of the Protocol. All technical aspects concerning safety and protection of explosive ordnance against occurrence of ERW are ensured prior to indenting as per Generic Preventive Measures of Technical Annexure of Protocol V. The revised Generic Electronic Template of Article 4 of the Protocol has been recommended for adoption and dissemination to all service headquarters for compliance by armed forces. The measures taken by India to implement its obligations under Protocol V are detailed in our national annual reports.

We believe that universalization should continue to be a priority under Protocol V alongwith timely and fully implementation of obligations contained in Protocol. This would make a real difference on the ground in addressing the humanitarian impact of explosive remnants of war. We are happy to note that the number of parties to the Protocol has risen to 84. We welcome Bangladesh, Kuwait and Zambia on becoming parties to the Protocol this year.

In conclusion Mr. President, we would like to convey our appreciation to all the Coordinators for leading the discussions on important implementation issues. We have studied the reports and recommendations presented by the Coordinators to this meeting and we look forward to discussions on them during the relevant sessions in the next two days.

Thank you.