Abul-Gheit: Egypt's stand on a nuclear free zone is firm, clear
Egypt-Regional, Politics, 10/3/2005

"Egypt's call for ridding the Middle East from all weapons of mass destruction is firm and clear cut," Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul-Gheit said on Saturday.

He cited President Hosni Mubarak's 1990 call for making the Middle East an area free from all weapons of mass destruction in order to maintain the region's stability and security.

The Minister said that the International Atomic Energy Agency, at the conclusion of its conference in Vienna on September 30, endorsed a draft resolution submitted by Egypt to get all nuclear facilities in the Middle East comply with IAEA- safeguards as well as to create nuclear weapon-free zone.

The Minister said that the challenge that the Nuclear Non- Proliferation Treaty was facing and the danger posed by Israel's growing nuclear capabilities showed the futility of double- standard policies and made it more and more necessary that the international community and the IAEA shoulder their responsibilities and start taking serious and practical actions to implement the resolution.

The Foreign Minister said that Egypt believed that the Middle East could do very well without having nuclear superpowers or non-peaceful nuclear activities of its own.

"The emergence of nuclear superpowers in the Middle East and allowing some Middle East countries to have non-peaceful nuclear programs would only aggravate the region's security woes," he warned. He said that Egypt would never relinquish its call for making the NPT a universal agreement. Abul-Gheit went on to say that Egypt's cooperation with the IAEA was not just limited to nuclear non-proliferation, noting that Egypt supported the international nuclear watchdog in all its efforts to combat nuclear terrorism.

He spoke about Egypt's interest in making optimum use of peaceful nuclear technological programmes through connecting them to its sustainable development process.

Previous Stories:
  Egypt proposes nuclear-free-zone in Middle East   (9/29/2005)
  Egypt warns against dealing with NPT in double standard   (9/26/2005)
  Mubarak insists on rights of Palestinians, diplomacy with Iran   (3/25/2005)

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