Mr. President, as we are in the final weeks of the formal 1990 session, it would seem appropriate to offer a Canadian assessment of our achievements to date. In our view, some very useful and important work has been accomplished in the summer session. Ambassador Hyltenius, the Chairman of the Ad Hoc Committee on Chemical Weapons, has advanced work on article IX by taking a fresh look at the material upon which such an article could be based. Under his overall direction: Working Group A has further considered ways of improving the "protocol on inspection procedures", in particular the section on "alleged use" and the overlaps with the annexes to article VI, and has begun examining the proposal for ad hoc verification; Working Group B has been particularly successful in finding solutions to some critical technical issues related to articles IV, V and VI, in particular on thresholds, definitions, and dates, and on elements of the question of the "order of destruction"; Working Group C has carefully worked out texts on "amendments", "settlement of disputes", and "measures to redress a situation" which seem to enjoy a high degree of general support and which offer the hope that these issues might well now be on the way to final resolution; CD/PV.573 3 (Mr, Shannon. Canada) Lastly, the various "friends of the Chair" on such issues as article X, "old chemical weapons", and "jurisdiction and control" have made very laudable efforts to develop consensus approaches to these long-standing issues. Notwithstanding these advances, however, we are disappointed and disturbed that more was not achieved during this past summer, particularly given the sense of heightened expectations that seemed to prevail during the spring session - expectations that my delegation certainly shared, as I indicated in my statement of 24 April. This failure to achieve greater progress is surprising also in view of 
**Analysis**
The text appears to be discussing the progress made in a diplomatic setting, specifically in the context of chemical weapons, with references to articles, working groups, and technical issues. This suggests that the topic is related to international relations, security, and disarmament.

**Category**
International relations, Science and technology