Egypt on Saturday renewed its call for the universality of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), particularly in the Middle East, urging all states in the region without exception to join the treaty and subject all their nuclear facilities to comprehensive IAEA safeguards. In a statement ahead of the International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) General Conference, scheduled for Sept. 15-19 in Vienna, Egypt stressed the critical importance of establishing a Middle East zone free of nuclear weapons and all other weapons of mass destruction. This goal, the foreign ministry said, represents a "fundamental step" to ensure regional and international security and stability, halt a threatening arms race, and achieve a world free of nuclear weapons. The statement said Egypt has been at the forefront of such efforts since it launched an initiative to establish a nuclear-weapon-free zone in 1974 within the United Nations framework. "Egypt expresses its concern over the serious threat facing humanity due to the continued existence of nuclear weapons," the statement read, calling on the international community to deal with this danger with all seriousness and to fulfil its responsibilities in ensuring the full implementation of the NPT's commitments regarding nuclear disarmament as one of its fundamental pillars. The ministry affirmed that the resolution issued by the 1995 NPT Review and Extension Conference regarding the establishment of a nuclear-weapon-free zone in the Middle East represents a "clear international commitment." It added that its implementation is an "integral part of the indefinite extension deal of the treaty and the preservation of the credibility of the entire nuclear non-proliferation system." The statement comes in the context of international interest in monitoring nuclear programmes in the Middle East to ensure their peaceful nature and the compliance of states with their NPT obligations. The ministry stressed that subjecting all regional facilities to IAEA safeguards would ensure transparency, prevent double standards in dealing with nuclear programmes, and avert increased regional tension.
