UNITED NATIONS, May 13: Ending 10 days of diplomatic standoff, the signatories to the Nuclear non-Proliferation Treaty have agreed on the agenda for the review conference which wants strengthened global protections against the spread of nuclear arms.
The deadlock was broken when delegates agreed to put a reference to previous conferences where that issue was discussed in a footnote to the agenda. Egypt wanted previous deals made to extend the NPT indefinitely and for the treaty to take into account statements made under negotiations on Israel failing to be a party to the NPT. “Israel is one of the concerns and that’s one of the concerns of the conference. If you go back to the year 2000 review document you will find out that there is specific reference that something has to be done about that,” Egyptian Ambassador Maged Abdelaziz said last Friday.
Egypt’s Deputy Foreign Minister for International Organizations Ahmed Fatthala said the agreement means that all three subjects discussed at the 1995 review conference would also be on the agenda at the current meeting – the Mid East, disarmament and non-proliferation.
“These were the three pillars,” he said. “We wanted to have a successful meeting, and we couldn’t have a successful meeting if we ignored the balanced package we have already agreed upon in 1995.”
A spokesman for a Washington-based NGO attending the conference said that the impasse was the result of US insistence that the conference ignore the 1995 and the 2000 treaty reviews and their decisions on disarmament steps, and the insistence of the 116 developing countries in the Non-Aligned Movement that the current meeting review and assess progress on past commitments.
