Israel urged to join the NPT

The Egyptian deputy foreign minister for international relations, Sayed Qasem al-Masri, has asserted the need of Israel's joining the nuclear nonproliferation treaty (NPT) to achieve regional security.

In a statement to Sawt al-Arab radio, the Egyptian official also stressed the importance of finding solutions for the question of the Palestinian refugees according to international legitimacy resolutions, the water problem in the region, controlling nuclear armament and weapons of mass destruction and other causes of destiny.

He indicated that the multilateral negotiations are totally linked to the extent of progress which will take place in the negotiations on all tracks.

Concerning Syria's participation in the meeting in the guidance ministerial committee of the multilateral due to start today in Moscow, al-Masri added that Syria will not abstain from participating in the multilateral talks in a coming phase if positive progress is attained in the negotiations with Israel.

The Israeli Radio said these meetings which are run by the Middle East peace process' two cosponsors, Russia and the US, will be attended by delegations from Egypt, Jordan, Palestine, Israel, Tunisia and Saudi Arabia.