In a statement issued before the first session of the preparatory committee for the 2010 review NPT conference (Non-proliferation of Nuclear Weapons Treaty) being held in Vienna from April 30 to May 11, Anwar Othman Albarout, head of the UAE delegation, said that despite the high hopes and expectations created by the NPT, the world at large is facing the nuclear threat.
He said that the global nuclear non-proliferation regime has been weakened and doubts have been created about the objectives and universality of this treaty because of the insistence of nuclear states to keep their stockpile of nuclear weapons and improve their means of delivery and new attempts by some states to pursue similar nuclear programmes, whether openly or covertly. There are other states who want to remain out of this important treaty.
He added,“This comes at a time of heightened concerns over the attempts of smuggling material used in producing nuclear weapons by some of the non-governmental actors, and the possibility of the leakage of these weapons to the hands of irresponsible, criminal and terrorist groups which can threaten the security balance and regional and international stability.”
Albarout pointed out that the gap between the ambitions of nuclear states and the demands of non-nuclear-weapon states, who are committed to the provisions of the treaty, is widening, making the goals of implementing the universality of the treaty, which represents the main tool of international strategic disarmament and vertical and horizontal nuclear non- proliferation, very difficult to achieve, particularly in the absence of equitable balance in the obligations and responsibilities between nuclear and non-nuclear states. He said priority of the meeting should be to focusing on areas, which will contribute towards making gradual scientific progress towards nuclear disarmament.
