Bahrain supports international efforts to establish Middle East nuclear-free zone

TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Bahrain’s policy is consistent in supporting international efforts aimed at eliminating weapons of mass destruction and their means of delivery and preventing their spread.

This was emphasised by Ambassador Jamal Fares Alrowaiei, Permanent Representative of the Kingdom of Bahrain to the United Nations.

He added that the Kingdom is committed to maintaining a tough stance against weapons of mass destruction and boosting cooperation with the international community in achieving regional and global security and stability.

Ambassador Alrowaiei was speaking at the Second Session of the Conference on the Establishment of a Middle East Zone Free of Nuclear Weapons and Other Weapons of Mass Destruction, which commenced yesterday in Washington.

The event saw the participation of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who delivered a speech affirming the importance of building a safer world.

Ambassador Alrowaiei said that Bahrain supports the establishment of a Middle East zone free of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction.

It is in implementation of the 1995 Review and Extension Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, which should help in maintaining regional and international peace and security, he noted.

The Kingdom acceded to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and the Convention on the Prohibition of Biological Weapons in 1988, and the Chemical Weapons Convention in 1997.

Bahrain is also a member of all international conventions in the field of nuclear safety, including the Convention on Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism.

Ambassador Alrowaiei pointed out that the Kingdom also ratified the agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to implement safeguards within the framework of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and its protocol.

It also established the National Committee on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on their Destruction, which monitors all chemical-related activities.

Alrowaiei stressed the inalienable right of all countries to benefit from the peaceful uses of nuclear energy and its many fields of application, and the importance of achieving more benefit in the exchange of nuclear knowledge and techniques between industrialised and developing countries.