Bahrain participates in a meeting to Commemorate International Day against Nuclear Tests

New York, Sept. 11 (BNA): Bahrain’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Jamal Fares Al Rowaiei, expressed the Arab Group's aspiration to establish a zone free of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East. This came during the participation of the Permanent Representative in the High-level Plenary Meeting to Commemorate and Promote the International Day against Nuclear Tests, at the United Nations Headquarters in New York. He highlighted that the aspiration came in accordance with the decision of the 1995 NPT Review and Extension Conference, and the 2000 and 2010 Review Conference on the Implementation of the 1995 Resolution, Security Council Resolutions 487 and 678, and the dozens of resolutions adopted by the UN General Assembly and the IAEA General Conference in this regard. The ambassador stressed the importance of the conference held by the UN next November under the chairmanship of Jordan in order to negotiate a binding treaty in this regard. Ambassador Al Rowaiei, speaking on behalf of the Arab Group, in his capacity as Head of the Arab Group for the month of September, stressed the importance of irreversible verification of nuclear weapons, explaining that this would be the result of the implementation by the nuclear powers of their obligations under Article VI of the Treaty. The Arab Group unequivocally rejected the pretext that nuclear weapons were necessary to achieve international stability or that international conditions were not conducive to the further implementation of nuclear disarmament commitments, and called on nuclear States to discharge their responsibilities and eliminate their nuclear arsenal in accordance with the specified timetable. On the Middle East region, the ambassador affirmed that the Arab countries have demonstrated their good intentions through their accession to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and their willingness to implement their commitments within the framework of the NPT. He pointed out that Israel's repeated refusal to implement the relevant international resolutions has caused a disruption of the security system in the region, making it vulnerable to arms races. Al Rowaiei noted that recent developments, such as the adoption of the "Humanitarian Covenant" and the adoption of the first treaty banning nuclear weapons in 2017, are a message that non-nuclear states are beginning to look for new ways to take serious action to address the risks posed by the continued possession of nuclear weapons, including the dangers associated with nuclear detonation tests, which are an existential danger, must be dealt with urgently by the UN. The permanent representative also stressed that the total elimination of nuclear weapons is not only a realistic and feasible goal, but a necessary condition for sustaining international security and stability in a sustainable manner.