Final document of the 10th NPT Review Conference ignored the concerns of the region’s countries over Israel’s nuclear arsenal: Sabbagh

Syria has stressed that the content of the final document of the 2020 Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons  (NPT) on the Middle East is weak and it doesn’t end the concerns of the region’s countries over Israel’s nuclear arsenal, particularly as it didn’t provide for forcing Israel to join the NPT and put all its nuclear facilities under the comprehensive safeguards agreements that have been concluded by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

“In this regard, Syria affirms that the resolution on the Middle East for the year 1995 will remains in force until its goals are fully achieved,” Syria’s Permanent Representative to United Nations Basam Sabbagh, Head of the Syrian delegation to the conference said during the conference’s final session, held in New York.

Sabbagh stated that Syria hoped that this conference would reach good results that would open a new stage in the process of reviewing the treaty, but political selfishness of western countries, that prioritized their geopolitical interests over the interests of the treaty’s member states, has led to this regrettable result.

Sabbagh added that the western countries tried to use this conference as a platform to unjustifiably attack an NPT member country and they were selective in dealing with the aspects related to the three pillars of the Treaty which indicated a clear politicization of the conference’s work and that greatly undermined efforts to strengthen the non-proliferation system.

He underlined that during the conference, the Syrian delegation was keen on expressing its readiness to cooperate with all the delegations of the NPT member states with the aim of reaching a consensus on the draft final document, but, regrettably, the important concerns of many member states, mainly the Non-Aligned Movement countries, were ignored.

Sabbagh clarified that Syria reiterates the need to respect the rights of all the  Treaty’s member states in a balanced way, especially their inalienable right to the peaceful use of nuclear energy, pointing out that Syria hoped that this conference would take a clear position on the illegal unilateral coercive measures imposed by some Western countries on other countries, including Syria.

Hamda Mustafa