time progress on the immediate imperative of reducing nuclear weapons on Earth should not be held hostage to the achievement of new agreements on outer space. BHS/plj A/C.l/40/PV.S 46 (Mr. McDowell, New Zealand) A successful summit meeting and progress in the bilateral talks in Geneva will, we hope, be paralleled by progress in the multilateral disarmament process. So far the Conference on Disarmament has failed to negotiate a single s~gnificant disarmament or arms control agreement since it was reconstituted following the General Assembly's first special session on Disarmament . In recent years, it has not even taken up some of the most important items on its agenda because of continuing procedural wrangles. New zealand has been particularly concerned by the lack of progress on the first item on the agenda of the Conference -the nuclear test ban. New Zealand has long been a firm advocate of the early negotiation and conclusion of a treaty to ban all nuclear tests. We share the widely held view that a comprehensive test-ban treaty is the most practical and immediate way of halting the development and further spread of nuclear weapons. Without a comprehensive test ban treaty any agreement reached on reducing the numbers of nuclear weapons could be nullified by the pace of technological change leading to the development of new and unregulated classes of these weapons. It is a disarmament objective of the greatest importance. It is well known that nuclear testing is of particular concern to New Zealand and other countries of the South Pacific because France insists on testing its nuclear weapons in our region. South Pacific countries have repeatedly reaffirmed their total opposition to these tests. In defiance of the view of all independent and self-governing countries of the South Pacific, France continues to turn its 
**Analysis**
The text primarily focuses on the issue of disarmament and nuclear weapons, with a specific emphasis on the Conference on Disarmament and the lack of progress in negotiating a comprehensive test-ban treaty. The text also mentions the impact of nuclear testing on countries in the South Pacific, such as New Zealand. This suggests that the text is more related to international relations and disarmament rather than any of the other categories.

**Category**
International relations, Science and technology