Egypt committed to non-proliferation of nuclear weapons: FM

CAIRO - 27 February 2018: Minister of Foreign Affairs Sameh Shoukry stressed during the Conference on Disarmament (CD) held on Tuesday that all countries should be committed to the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons Treaty (NPT).

Shoukry confirmed that CD has been in stalemate for over two decades and has been regrettably unable to adopt a program of work that allows the conference to carry out its duties, despite the efforts exerted in this regard.

He added that the reasons behind this situation should be revised to double the efforts for reversing the status quo, preserving the integrity of the conference and its ability to resume its responsibilities in advancing the international security as it is the only forum where negotiations on disarmament are held.

“If the CD is to break its deadlock and restore its historic and central role in the field of disarmament, all states must resist prioritizing national interests at the expense of advancing collective security,” said Shoukry.

He further explained that Egypt supports the presidency of the conference and its constructive efforts to adopt a comprehensive program of work, expressing Egypt’s aspirations for the conference’s 2018 edition to restore its effective role in negotiating the international agreements and treaties on disarmament.

Shoukry expressed that Egypt welcomes the conference’s recent decision to establish five subsidiaries on the conference’s agenda as a very important step towards adopting a comprehensive and balanced work program in the future.

He remarked that although Egypt and many international parties have long called in many forums for complete elimination of nuclear weapons and parties’ commitment to the NPT, no actions have been taken in this regard as nuclear weapons still exist in the world, threatening the international security.

“Equally important, the inability of the international community to achieve the universality of the NPT until now has impacted the treaty negatively. The continued non adherence of a few states to the NPT has questioned whether the NPT will be able to achieve its objectives.”

He said that the instability in the Middle East is worsened by the existence of states non party to the treaty and the readiness of some parties to protect the interests of those states, reaffirming the importance of Israel joining the NPT and for its nuclear facilities to be placed under the comprehensive safeguards of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to achieve peace and stability across world.

In this regard, Shoukry called on all states to address the threats in the Middle East by establishing a zone free of weapons of mass destruction to preserve security in the region.

“Egypt has been at the forefront calling to achieve this objective, emanating from its deep conviction that the path to security in the Middle East must be based on collective security, rather than selective security in a manner that is beneficial to all states of the region.”

He concluded that the UN's multilateral disarmament machinery can be effective only if states uphold the purposes of disarmament to address the global challenges and to achieve more peaceful and secure world; Egypt’s efforts will be continuously directed to achieving this vision.