1 Curbing future use of chemical weapons, not judging events in the past, is the purpose of a meeting of more than 140 countries beginning this weekend, Foreign Minister Roland Dumas said Wednesday.
2 But the United States is widely expected to make an issue of its allegations that Libya has built a large chemical weapons plant.
3 The conference, opening Saturday, follows the downing of two Libyan jet fighters by U.S. Navy planes on Wednesday.
4 The conference also may become a forum for disputes between Iran and Iraq, following Iraq's use of chemical weapons in the eight-year Persian Gulf war.
5 Iraq said it used chemical weapons after Iran did, but Iran has denied using them.
6 Speaking at a news conference, Dumas said France hopes the five-day conference 'will not deviate from its agenda' after the incident.
7 He also said the meeting should avoid reviewing past chemical weapons deployment.
8 'The Paris conference must not judge past acts,' Dumas said.
9 The aim of the conference is to reaffirm the 1925 Geneva Protocol banning the use of chemical weapons and give impetus to negotiations in Geneva on a universal ban on use and production of chemical arms.
10 Javier Perez de Cuellar, the U.N. secretary-general, will attend the conference, U.N. officials said.
11 William Burns, the U.S. arms control director, told reporters in Washington on Wednesday that the American delegation will focus on trying to strengthen the secretary-general's authority to investigate allegations of chemical weapons use and authorize the U.N. General Assembly or Security Council to impose sanctions.
12 But Burns said this could be difficult since all actions at the conference will be taken by consensus.
13 This means a single participant, such as Libya, could hold off an overwhelming majority.
14 The U.S. government accuses Libya of having built a chemical weapons plant in the desert town of Rabta, 35 miles south of its capital, Tripoli.
15 President Reagan last month said a military strike on the plant was under consideration.
16 Libya says the plant in question produces pharmaceuticals.
17 West German radio quoted the Foreign Ministry as saying the West German ambassador in Tripoli met Wednesday with Libyan leader Col. Moammar Gadhafi to discuss ways for an international commission to inspect the Rabta plant.
18 U.S. officials have said they suspect that a West German company helped build the chemical plant.
19 Hans-Dietrich Genscher, West Germany's foreign minister, told reporters in Bonn before the attack that his government was investigating the firm Imhausen-Chemie, but that it had no independent verification of the U.S. claims that it supplied Libya with materials for the plant.
20 Britain's Foreign Office said Wednesday night it had independent information confirming the plant was built to produce chemical weapons.
21 It was Britain's first comment on the U.S. allegations.
22 On Wednesday, two American F-14s shot down two Libyan jet fighters.
23 U.S. government officials said the Navy jets were conducting routine operations and had been threatened.
24 U.S. Defense Secretary Frank Carlucci denied the action was related to the earlier accusation concerning the chemical weapons plant.
25 Dumas said it was too soon for all the facts on the air skirmish to be known and that France awaited the 'Libyan version' of the events.
26 Dumas said France did not have enough information to decide whether the Libyan plant was capable of producing chemical weapons.
27 The conference was formally proposed by President Reagan during his September address to the U.N. General Assembly.

Curbing future use of chemical weapons , not judging events in the past , is the purpose of a meeting of more than 140 countries beginning this weekend , Foreign Minister Roland Dumas said Wednesday .
purpose
Why is curbing future chemical weapons the purpose of the meeting?