Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmy called on the foreign ministers of Middle Eastern countries to inform UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon that they support announcing the Middle East a zone free of weapons of mass destruction. A statement issued on Sunday by Foreign Ministry spokesperson Badr Abdelatty stated that Fahmy has written letters to Secretary General of the Arab League Nabil El-Araby, UN Secretary General Ban, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy for the European Union Catherine Ashton and the foreign ministers of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, as well as the foreign minister of Finland. A meeting to discuss the Middle East nuclear weapon free zone agreement was set to be held in Finland in 2012 but was postponed and is yet to be held. Fahmy urged the five permanent members of the UN Security Council as well as all Middle Eastern countries to write official letters to Ban, expressing their support of announcing the Middle East free of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons. The letters also urge Ban to continue international efforts to speed up holding the postponed meeting. On 10 October, Egypt's Permanent Representative to the United Nations Mootaz Khalil said Egypt organised two high level seminars discussing a nuclear-free Middle East. Fahmy gave a speech in a high level meeting on nuclear disarmament during the 68th UN General Assembly (UNGA) in which he stressed the "universality of the Non-Proliferation Treaty." Fahmy also held talks on the sidelines of the UNGA with Lassina Zerbo, the Executive Secretary of the Predatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organisation and expressed his frustration with the double standards applied in preventing the spread of nuclear weapons in the Middle East. He asserted the importance of all countries in the region ratifying the Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty. Fahmy also demanded that all countries in the region sign the Non-Proliferation Treaty and work on clearing the Middle East of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons of mass destruction. On 6 October, Interim President Adly Mansour announced the launch of "multiple nuclear plants for peaceful purposes, beginning with Al-Dabaa." Mansour thanked Al-Dabaa residents for relinquishing control of land to the military for the plant's construction.
