The UAE participated in a major nuclear conference held at the United Nations in New York on Tuesday.
The Emirati delegation was headed by Dr Sultan Al Jaber, Minister of State, and included Hamad Alkaabi, UAE Permanent Representative to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and Lana Zaki Nusseibeh, UAE Permanent Representative to the UN.
Dr Al Jaber said at the 2015 Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) that the UAE was committed to ensuring global peace and security.
“The UAE attaches high importance to the NPT,” he said. “It supports the right of countries’ peaceful use of nuclear energy with transparency and abiding by the highest standards of security and safety.”
He cited the UAE’s peaceful nuclear programme as a role model on how non-nuclear countries can utilise the international framework of cooperation, as provided for by the treaty.
“The UAE began construction of its first nuclear reactor in 2012,” Dr Al Jaber said. “This event marked the first construction of a nuclear reactor in a new programme in more than 27 years.”
He highlighted the importance of reinforcing the IAEA’s capacity to support the expansion of peaceful nuclear programmes, calling for the adoption of the Additional Protocol to the Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement.
He also called for the elimination of nuclear weapons worldwide, urging nuclear states to abide by their commitments.
“[We] need to adopt practical steps to declare the Middle East as a nuclear weapons free zone,” he said.
newsdesk@thenational.ae
