Objectives

The project aims to support participating States of the Middle East in their substantive deliberations to prepare for the negotiations of a legally binding treaty establishing the Middle East zone; the intersessional work, especially that of the working committee; and the rotating presidencies in their preparations for the sixth (2025) and seventh (2026) sessions of the UN Conference on the Establishment of the Middle East Zone Free of Nuclear Weapons and Other Weapons of Mass Destruction (MENWMDFZ).

Components

The Project supports the work of the annual Conference on the Establishment of the Middle East Zone Free of Nuclear Weapons and Other Weapons of Mass Destruction, and its working committee, both procedurally and substantively. The support includes convening working committee meetings, assisting the incoming Presidencies of the sixth and seventh sessions (2025, 2026), and maintaining a community of regional and international experts and entities. It also contributes to outreach events, the preparation of informal background papers. Additionally, the project engages relevant forums on Middle East disarmament and security policy.

Main achievements

The project supported three meetings of the Working Committee of the Conference on the Establishment of a Middle East Zone Free of Nuclear Weapons and Other Weapons of Mass Destruction.

The first meeting, a one-day session in January, focused on organizational matters for 2025, including the committee’s agenda, schedule, and expert participation. The second meeting, held over three days in March in New York, addressed “Negative Security Assurances (NSA)” and “Consultation, Clarification, Cooperation (3C), and Dispute Settlement,” as agreed at the January session. The third meeting, also three days, took place in May in Amman, Jordan, and focused on cooperation between nuclear-weapon-free zones and the Middle East zone process.

Each meeting featured in-depth discussions enriched by inputs from representatives of other nuclear-weapon-free zones, international and regional organizations, and independent experts. These discussions will inform the sixth session of the UN Conference on the Establishment of the Middle East Zone Free of Nuclear Weapons and Other Weapons of Mass Destruction (MENWMDFZ) in November 2025.

The project produced a summary of proceedings, capturing concrete proposals from state representatives and experts on advancing the topics discussed. This summary is expected to be formally adopted at the sixth session.

Impact

The project plays a vital role in implementing the outcomes of the annual sessions of the conference on the Establishment of a Middle East Zone Free of Nuclear Weapons and other weapons of Mass Destruction. The MENWMDFZ contributes to the implementation of the Pact for the Future.