NEW YORK, April 9 (KUNA) -- The State of Kuwait has called for holding the much-delayed conference or clearing Middle East of weapons of mass destruction as soon as possible this year, with participation of all concerned countries including Israel.
The call was addressed by the second secretary of the Kuwaiti permanent mission at the UN, Abdul-Aziz Ammash Al-Ajmi, during a session on arms disarmament in 2014, held late on Tuesday.
Al-Ajmi noted resolutions of the conference for examination of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), held in 1995, and the other convention for the same purpose that convevend in 2010. This gathering had called for holding a broad conference in 2012, designed to proclaim the Middle East as free from WMDs. However, bids to hold it had been in vain.
The Kuwaiti diplomat welcomed a proposal by Egypt at the 68th UN General Assembly, held in September last year, for effective executive steps for nuclear proliferation in the Middle East. All Arab states and Iran had supported it.
Al-Ajmi said the State of Kuwait welcomes the UNGA's adoption of the resolution, proposed by the Non-Aligned Movement, essentially calling for a UN conference to tackle nuclear arms proliferation by 2018.
He expressed regret that despite efforts at diverse levels to rid humanity of these lethal arms, little tangible results have been observed.
The second secretary indicated the UN procedures "in the realm of conventional arms" for sake of global peace and security. Moreover, he underlined basic principles, included in the UN charter, banning external intervenetion in states' internal affairs, settling disputes with peaceful means and sovereignty's equaltiy among the UN member states.
He also underscored other UN basic principles, namely rights of peoples under occupation to determine their destiny and reject the occupation. Furthermore, Al-Ajmi re-affirmed necessity of implementing the international convention for banning anti-personnel mines. (end) sj.mjz.rk