Geneva: The State of Qatar called for the evacuation of the Middle East region from weapons of mass destruction, stressing that the existence of one nuclear-armed state in the Middle East makes regional stability almost impossible and leads to a nuclear arms race that seriously affects global security and stability.
The State of Qatar expressed hope that the results of the historic summit held recently between the leaders of South Korea and North Korea will open the door for communication between the peoples of the two countries and achieve lasting peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and the world.
H E Sheikh Ali bin Jassim Al-Thani, Ambassador of the State of Qatar to Austria and permanent representative of the State of Qatar to the United Nations and international organizations in Vienna, said in a statement before the Preparatory Committee for the 2020 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference in Geneva that the peoples of the Middle East need diplomatic initiatives and similar courageous resolutions that restore hope for peaceful solutions to the intractable problems in the region, first and foremost the dangers of the nuclear arms race by embarking on practical steps to establish a nuclear-weapon-free zone in the Middle East.
The Ambassador added Qatar recognised the importance of the region’s nuclear-weapon-free zones in promoting international norms of nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament, supporting international efforts to achieve peace and security, encouraging the establishment of such zones and providing them with the necessary security guarantees.
He stressed that the danger of the spread of nuclear weapons in the Middle East is one of the main factors that plague the peoples of the region due to the continuing unrest in the region, the continuing phenomenon of terrorism and the dangers posed by the possibility of weapons of mass destruction falling into the hands of terrorist groups, which necessitates everyone to intensify international cooperation to spare the region and the world the dangers for which the NPT was created.
He said that the non-nuclear states, including the countries of the region, have fulfilled their obligations to the NPT and subjected their nuclear facilities and programs to International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards, but Israel remains the only country in the Middle East that has not acceded to the NPT, which requires the international community to pressure it to join the treaty and end the blackout and ambiguity in its nuclear program and subject all its nuclear facilities to the comprehensive IAEA safeguards, similar to the programs of the countries of the region such as the Arab Gulf states, Iraq, Syria, Libya and Iran.
