UNGA adopts Egyptian draft resolutions on establishment of nuclear-weapon-free zone in Mideast

CAIRO — The First Committee of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) adopted two Egyptian draft resolutions on the establishment of the nuclear weapons-free zone in the Middle East, Egypt’s official Ahram Online news website reported on Friday.

The two draft resolutions were approved by the majority of the members of the committee, which deals with disarmament and international security issues, it said.

The first resolution calls on all countries in the Middle East that have not joined the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) to do so, and to subject their nuclear facilities to the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and its comprehensive safeguard system, Egyptian Permanent Representative to the UN Osama Abdel Khalek was quoted as saying.

The second one emphasizes the importance of implementing the 1995 Review and Extension Conference of the NPT’s Resolution on the Middle East, presented by Egypt on behalf of the Arab countries.

The 1995 Review and Extension Conference resolutions called on all Middle Eastern states to take practical steps towards the establishment of an effectively verifiable Middle East zone free of weapons of mass destruction, nuclear, chemical and biological, and their delivery systems.

The resolutions also called on non-NPT signatories to accede to the NPT and accept full-scope of the IAEA safeguards, and urged nuclear and non-nuclear-weapon states to fully cooperate with regional efforts to create a weapons of mass destruction-free zone in the Middle East.