UN General Assembly
1989

At Canberra, for the first time the world's chemical industry collectively signalled its unequivocal commitment to assist Governments to conclude a chemical-weapons ban. Industry also agreed to establish a formal International Industry Forum - representing chemical industries from all major blocs and sectors, not just the developed countries - to address the remaining practical issues to be resolved in the negotiation and implementation of a practical, verifiable, chemical-weapons convention. The Canberra Conference identified a number of interim steps that could be taken prior to the conclusion of a convention - and which indeed in some countries were already being taken - steps both to build confidence in the possibility of a successful convention and to build the working arrangements that would be needed to put that convention into operation. There was general agreement at the Canberra Conference not only that 1990 would be a critical year for the negotiations, but that it should be possible to negotiate substantive outstanding issues to resolution within that time-frame.