Nuclear-weapon-free zone in the Mideast – Disarmament Conference debate – Verbatim record (excerpts)

CONFERENCE ON DISARMAMENT

FINAL RECORD OF THE EIGHT HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-SECOND

PLENARY MEETING

Held at the Palais des Nations, Geneva,

on Tuesday, 27 March 2001, at 10.15 a.m.

GE.01-61067 (E)

 The PRESIDENT ( translated from Chinese ): I declare open the 872nd plenary meeting of the Conference on Disarmament.

  I have on my list of speakers for today the representatives of Egypt and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. I give the floor first to the representative of Egypt, Ambassador Fayza Aboulnaga.

 Ms. ABOULNAGA (Egypt) ( translated from Arabic ): …

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 … While Egypt lays strong emphasis on the goal of nuclear disarmament at the global level, we are especially alarmed at the current situation in the Middle East, which requires immediate action. In this regard, the initiative adopted by Egypt and Iran since 1974 to establish a nuclear-weapons-free zone in the Middle East and the initiative of President Mubarak to create a zone free of all weapons of mass destruction in the region have received the overwhelming support of the international community. This was reflected in countless resolutions adopted by the United Nations General Assembly and other international and regional forums. The Final Document of the sixth NPT Review Conference was unambiguous in reaffirming “the importance of Israel’s accession to the NPT and the placement of all its nuclear facilities under comprehensive IAEA safeguards, in realizing the goal of universal adherence to the Treaty in the Middle East”.

  In view of the above and in the light of General Assembly resolution 55/36, entitled “The risk of nuclear proliferation in the Middle East”, which was adopted by an overwhelming majority, and resolution 55/30, entitled “Establishment of a nuclear-weapon-free zone in the region of the Middle East”, which was adopted without a vote, the delegation of Egypt requests UNIDIR to prepare a study on practical steps for the immediate creation of a nuclear-weapon-free zone in the Middle East as an action-oriented follow-up to the study that the Institute prepared in 1996 on the creation of a zone free of weapons of mass destruction in the region and also building upon other work previously undertaken by UNIDIR in this regard.

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The meeting rose at 10.50 a.m.