Cairo: Calling on India, Pakistan and Israel to join the NPT regime promptly and unconditionally, Egypt has asked the three countries to offer ideas for the way forward in the pursuit of peace and development.
"In that regard, we call upon India, Israel and Pakistan to accede to the Treaty promptly and without any conditions as non-nuclear-weapon States and, pending their accession, to adhere to its terms," Egypt`s Permanent Representative to UN in Geneva, Ambassador Hisham Badr said.
Badr who was addressing the General Debate of the NPT 2010 Review Conference on behalf of the seven members of the New Agenda Coalition (NAC) said, "It is often stated that the NPT is the bedrock of the global nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation regime. And because of our firm commitment to this Treaty and its objectives our Coalition has been working, for over a decade, to advance nuclear disarmament as a central goal.”
“With that in mind, and 40 years after the entry into force of the Treaty, the Coalition calls upon all States Parties to fulfil all their Treaty commitments and obligations"
The ambassador also called upon China, France, Russia, the UK and the US to comply with their disarmament commitments and obligations under Article VI.
The Coalition that comprises Brazil, Ireland, Mexico, New Zealand, South Africa Sweden and Egypt further reaffirmed that achieving NPT universality is of paramount importance.
Welcoming the recent signature of the New START agreement, NAC said it will significantly reduce deployment of nuclear arsenals.
The last Review Conference in 2005 was largely considered a failure because members could not agree on a final document.
"This Review Conference must move beyond mere words and political posturing and get to the heart of matters quickly and directly if success is to be achieved," Badr said.
It is critical that the outcome include a reaffirmation of the unequivocal undertaking by nuclear-weapon States to accomplish the total elimination of their nuclear arsenals, and the implementation of the practical steps for systematic and progressive efforts to achieve nuclear disarmament that were agreed upon at the 2000 Review Conference and to pursue policies that are fully compatible with the objective of achieving a world free from nuclear weapons.
"In 2015, we want to be quoting the success of the 2010 Review Conference as the base from which to move forward, and not have to search 15 or 20 years back for a common position that remains unfilled to a Treaty whose credibility and viability would thus be in serious jeopardy," Badr added.
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