New York: Europe and the Arabs
The Secretary-General of the United Nations welcomed the successful conclusion of the conference “Establishing a Middle East zone free of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction.” He praised the constructive engagement in the conference towards drafting a future treaty in this regard, according to what was stated in the daily newsletter of the United Nations, a copy of which we received on Wednesday morning.
The fourth session of the conference was held between November 13 and 17 at the permanent headquarters of the United Nations in New York.
Secretary-General António Guterres praised the countries participating in the conference session, which Libya chaired, for their constructive engagement towards drafting a future treaty and their commitment to multilateral diplomacy at a time of escalating tensions and a severe humanitarian crisis in the Middle East region.
Guterres encouraged countries to continue their work during the period leading up to the next session, and expressed his support for their continued efforts to seek, in an open and comprehensive manner, to establish a Middle East zone free of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction.
At the opening of the conference session, the United Nations High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, Izumi Nakamitsu, stressed that “any threat to use nuclear weapons is unacceptable.”
She pointed out that the conference, since its launch five years ago, has maintained its momentum and achieved encouraging results in its successive sessions. She said that dialogues and communication between the participating countries contributed to building trust among them.
The first session of this conference was held between 18-22 November 2019 at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, headed by the then Jordanian Ambassador Sima Bahouth. The conference then adopted a political declaration and a final report