Geneva  - The multilateral Conference on Disarmament is unable to carry out a programme of work as it has failed to set up working groups to tackle specific issues, the president of the forum said Monday.

Ambassador Caroline Millar of Australia, the president, said that "at this stage," reaching a consensus to implement the work plan on reducing nuclear arsenals and stopping an arms race in outer space was not possible.

The 65-member body, hosted by the United Nations office in Geneva, requires a consensus to pass resolutions.

Pakistan had been blamed in previous weeks for holding up the talks on setting up the working groups.

Abdul Basit, a spokesman of Pakistan's Foreign Office, told the German Press Agency dpa that it was "not acceptable that the security of one country is given more importance than that of the other."

"We cannot ignore our security for the world," Basit said without clarifying what specific issues concerned the nuclear-armed country.

The Conference on Disarmament broke a 12-year stalemate in May by adopting a work plan, which included instructions to establish working groups on key subjects.

One group was to have started negotiations for a treaty banning the production of fissile material for nuclear weapons. Another planned to work on the prevention of an arms race in outer space.

A third group was supposed to focus on nuclear arms reductions and the ultimate elimination of all such arsenals.

The adoption of the plan by the forum was hailed by diplomats as "historic," back in May.

The conference, which includes all declared and suspected nuclear powers, is the only permanent multilateral forum for disarmament talks. (dpa)