The Kingdom has reiterated the importance of keeping the Mideast region free of nuclear weapons and has said stability and security never come through the acquisition of weapons of mass destruction. They come through cooperation and exerting efforts for realizing development and progress, according to Naif Bin Bandar Al-Sudeiry, Plenipotentiary Minister at the Saudi Foreign Ministry and head of the Kingdom's delegation to the conference being held here on the Revision of Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) of nuclear weapons. The NPT, he said, constitutes a major pillar for preventing the proliferation of nuclear weapons. The international community, he added, should work for the internationalization of the NPT by exerting all possible efforts to encourage all of those who have not yet signed the treaty to put their nuclear facilities under the system of comprehensive guarantees of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Any failure to put pressure on Israel to sign the treaty will endanger the stability of the Mideast and may pave the way for a nuclear race, Al-Sudeiry warned. The Kingdom, he said, would like to confirm the importance of making the Mideast free of nuclear weapons in line with the decision of the UN General Assembly in 1974. “However, acquisition of nuclear weapons by Israel constitutes a major obstacle to realizing peace and stability in the Mideast,” he said. Al-Sudeiry hoped that the conference would ask the director general of IAEA to follow up the implementation of last September's decision pertaining to Israeli nuclear capability. He noted that the Kingdom, for the sake of realizing global peace and stability, has proved its commitment to the treaty of non-proliferation of nuclear weapons and submitted its report in this respect. Al-Sudeiry said the Saudi government has been following with great concern the negotiations between group 5+1 and Tehran on the Iranian nuclear program. He underscored the importance of encouraging the Iranian side to cooperate with the IAEA in order to make the Mideast region free of weapons of mass destruction, adding that this goal can never be realized without cooperation and transparency.
