Nuclear-weapon-free zone in the Middle East – GA debate – Verbatim record (excerpts)

Official Records

General Assembly

Fifty-fifth session

52nd plenary meeting

Monday, 6 November 2000, 10 a.m.

New York

President:   Mr. Holkeri………………………..(Finland)

In the absence of the President, Mr. Mungra (Suriname), Vice-President, took the Chair.

The meeting was called to order at 10 a.m.

Agenda item 14

Report of the International Atomic Energy Agency

Note by the Secretary-General transmitting the report of the Agency (A/55/284 and Corr.1)

Draft resolution (A/55/L.25)

Amendment (A/55/L.26)

The Acting President: I invite the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Mr. Mohamed ElBaradei, to present the report of the Agency for the year 1999.

Mr. ElBaradei (International Atomic Energy Agency): … The Millennium Summit in early September focused the attention of the world on a number of objectives for the new millennium: the establishment of enduring world peace, the eradication of poverty, the fight against disease and the protection of the environment. In the efforts to realize these objectives, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) plays a modest but essential role. I will speak briefly today about the three fundamental functions of the Agency: our role as a catalyst for the development and transfer of peaceful nuclear technologies, our efforts to prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons and to move towards nuclear disarmament, and our work to build and maintain a global nuclear safety regime.

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In keeping with the General Conference mandate, I have continued my consultations with the States of the Middle East region regarding the application of full-scope safeguards to all nuclear activities in the Middle East, and the development of model agreements that would contribute to the establishment of a nuclear-weapon-free zone in that region. Regrettably, little progress has been achieved so far. Needless to say, I will continue to use all available means within my authority to move that mandate forward. Movement towards an overall settlement in the region will certainly boost my ability to make progress. At this year’s General Conference, I was asked to make arrangements to convene a forum in which participants from the Middle East and other interested parties could meet to learn from the experience of other regions, including in the area of confidence-building relevant to the establishment of a nuclear-weapon-free zone.

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The Acting President: I now give the floor to the representative of Egypt to introduce the amendment to draft resolution A/55/L.25, contained in document A/55/L.26.

Mr. Aboulgheit (Egypt) (spoke in Arabic): I would like at the outset to express warm thanks to the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Mr. Mohamed ElBaradei, for his excellent presentation of the annual report of the Agency for 1999. It also gives me great pleasure to congratulate him on his distinct contribution to the development of the programmes and activities of the Agency during the past three years. This contribution has been reflected in the increasing role played by the Agency in the peaceful applications of nuclear energy in various fields in the service of humanity, and in improving the relevant infrastructure.

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Egypt attaches great importance to the attainment of the objectives of non-proliferation and to ensuring nuclear disarmament all over the world. We think that in order to achieve progress in this respect, particularly in the Middle East region, this issue should be considered on an urgent basis, because of its potential positive impact on stability in the region as a whole. Within the framework of these efforts, Egypt has sought since 1974 to establish a nuclear-weapon-free zone in the Middle East. Since 1980 the General Assembly has made an appeal for the creation of such a zone under a series of resolutions adopted by consensus.

In response to this unanimous show of support by the international community for the establishment of such a zone, in April 1990 President Mohamed Hosni Mubarak called for the establishment of a Middle East zone free from all weapons of mass destruction. This initiative was an extension and a natural development of Egypt’s constant call for the establishment of a nuclear-weapon-free zone in the Middle East.

In support of these efforts, and because of the importance of this subject, Egypt, through the IAEA, has called year after year for the comprehensive safeguards system of the Agency to be applied to all nuclear facilities in the Middle East. These efforts and appeals are not simply an Egyptian or an Arab demand; they are an international endeavour in which all other countries, regardless of their various alliances and orientations, join us. The international community expressed its position through the consensus adoption of the Final Document of the Sixth Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), which was held in 2000.

The document welcomed the admission of all countries of the Middle East, except for Israel, to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT). It stressed the importance of Israel’s adhesion to the Treaty and of subjecting all its nuclear facilities to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)’s comprehensive safeguards in order to attain the ideal objective, that of ensuring universal adhesion to this Treaty in the Middle East.

Thus, last week, the First Committee adopted a resolution under item 76 concerning the danger of nuclear proliferation in the Middle East. The resolution was adopted by a majority of 139 votes; operative paragraph 2 stressed the importance of Israel’s adhesion to the NPT. It mentioned Israel by name and called upon that country to subject its nuclear facilities to the IAEA comprehensive safeguards system. I would like to point out that my statement does not represent an attack on Israel; nor is it a criticism, although Israel imagines it as such and reiterates that view in its statements before the international body; rather, it is a call for a comprehensive and lasting peace based on firm foundations. We think that it is high time for Israel to act positively in this connection and to respond to the international will by joining the NPT and by subjecting its nuclear facilities to the comprehensive safeguards system of the Agency. It should also give up its old-fashioned doctrine of deterrence.

Nonetheless, Egypt will enthusiastically continue to work towards ensuring the application of the IAEA’s comprehensive safeguards in the Middle East, without exception. We support all efforts aimed at strengthening the safeguards system, because it is the main international mechanism for verification. The IAEA is working to develop and support the safeguards system through the adoption in May 1997 of an additional model protocol for the safeguards agreements — I mean the 93 + 2 system — which Egypt supports — a system which provides the necessary legal basis for developing the Agency’s ability to detect undeclared nuclear activities and nuclear materials. We think that the Agency plays an important role in urging countries to sign and implement the comprehensive safeguards agreements in accordance with article III, paragraph 1 of the Treaty, which is the basis for ensuring that the Agency verify that nuclear materials are not diverted from their declared activities. Moreover, this is the gist of the IAEA’s verification activities, carried out in accordance with the non-proliferation regime.

I would like to reaffirm that any renunciation of our responsibilities or our commitment to apply the comprehensive safeguards system will have negative and dangerous consequences on the credibility of the safeguards system as a whole and the pioneering role played by the Agency in this respect.

Therefore, the Egyptian delegation has introduced an amendment to operative paragraph 5 of the draft resolution concerning the report of the IAEA, contained in document A/55/L.26. Our amendment stresses the integrated role played by the Agency in carrying out safeguards activities and the importance of the comprehensive safeguards system, to say nothing about the additional protocols concerning those safeguards.

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The meeting rose at 1.05 p.m.