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

Official Records

General Assembly

Forty-ninth session

First Committee

24th meeting

Friday, 18 November 1994, 10 a.m.

New York

Chairman: Mr. Valencia Rodriguez ……………………….. (Ecuador)

The meeting was called to order at 11.15 a.m.

Agenda items 53 to 66, 68 to 73 and 153 (continued)

Action on draft resolutions  submitted under all disarmament and international security agenda items

/…

The Chairman: The Secretariat has taken note of the statement of the representative of the United States.

Since no other delegation wishes to explain its position on decisions taken yesterday, we shall now proceed to hear statements by delegations wishing to introduce draft resolutions. The list of speakers is as follows: Egypt and

Mexico.

Mr. Karem (Egypt): It gives me pleasure to introduce draft resolution A/C.1/49/L.16/Rev.1, which is the product of intensive consultations. Since the original draft resolution was previously introduced to the Committee, I shall now focus only on the three basic additions to the original text.

Two carefully worded — and I repeat, carefully worded — new preambular paragraphs have been introduced. May I point out that, while the new ninth preambular paragraph just “takes note”, both paragraphs remain in the preambular part of the draft resolution.

The addition to the operative section was made with the same degree of care and caution. The new operative paragraph 4, I remind the Committee, is taken verbatim from operative paragraph 4 of the General Conference resolution of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on the application of IAEA safeguards in the Middle East, which the General Conference of the Agency has adopted by consensus for the past four years. The particular language of operative paragraph 4 was introduced in 1993 in Vienna and since then has become part of the consensus language in the IAEA. All delegations in the General Conference of the IAEA join that consensus.

This year marks the twentieth anniversary of the introduction in 1974 by Iran —and later by Egypt —of the draft resolution on the establishment of a nuclear-weapon-free zone in the Middle East. For the past 14 years we have adopted this draft resolution by consensus, reflecting intraregional as well as extraregional support for this initiative, and we hope to see its objectives soon realized and implemented. In the same spirit of preserving consensus on this draft resolution, which has become over the years an edifice and a cornerstone of non-proliferation efforts and disarmament initiatives in the region, we hope that the First Committee this year will once again mark and uphold the consensus tradition, which we have enjoyed and cherished for a long time.

/…

The meeting rose at 1 p.m.


Document symbol: A/C.1/49/PV.24
Document Type: Meeting record
Document Sources: General Assembly
Subject: Arms control and regional security issues
Publication Date: 18/11/1994
2021-10-20T18:36:45-04:00

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