42nd IAEA General Conference

Egypt, Ambassador Mostafa El Feki:

The speaker emphasized the need for realization of a Nuclear Weapons Free Zone in the Middle East. He stressed that comprehensive safeguards should be applied throughout the region without discrimination or exception. Egypt has proposed the development of a model safeguards agreement that could underpin the NWFZ in the Middle East. The NPT extension highlights the importance of ridding the Middle East region of nuclear weapons. The speaker then pointed out that all Arab countries in the region have become parties to the NPT, and have submitted to comprehensive safeguards of the IAEA. Israel is the only country in the region that has not, he noted. The speaker mentioned that Egypt attaches great importance to non-proliferation, but it should not be overlooked that technical cooperation is the other half of the Agency’s work and requires a strong base of funding. All countries must be faithful to the agreements and commitments they accepted when becoming a Member State of the Agency. In this regard, the speaker emphasized, all countries should pay their contributions in full and in time so that we can ensure the success of the Agency’s technical cooperation programme. On Article VI, there has been discussion on the amendment of Article VI of the Agency’s Statute — this issue has been linked to that of area groups. The speaker pointed out that Egypt did not believe there was sufficient reason to link the two issues but his delegation had been flexible in accepting the linkage. At the same time, he emphasized, Egypt was bound by the shared position of the African states, which calls for the expansion of the Board by seven seats. The speaker expressed the hope that all States would adopt the formula to amend Article VI. The speaker then described recent developments having to do with nuclear energy issues in Egypt . He then referred to the AFRA agreement, mentioning that Egypt last April had been host to a meeting of AFRA to celebrate its tenth anniversary.

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Egypt, Ambassador Mostafa El Feki:



The speaker emphasized the need for realization of a Nuclear Weapons Free Zone in the Middle East. He stressed that comprehensive safeguards should be applied throughout the region without discrimination or exception. Egypt has proposed the development of a model safeguards agreement that could underpin the NWFZ in the Middle East. The NPT extension highlights the importance of ridding the Middle East region of nuclear weapons. The speaker then pointed out that all Arab countries in the region have become parties to the NPT, and have submitted to comprehensive safeguards of the IAEA. Israel is the only country in the region that has not, he noted. The speaker mentioned that Egypt attaches great importance to non-proliferation, but it should not be overlooked that technical cooperation is the other half of the Agency’s work and requires a strong base of funding. All countries must be faithful to the agreements and commitments they accepted when becoming a Member State of the Agency. In this regard, the speaker emphasized, all countries should pay their contributions in full and in time so that we can ensure the success of the Agency’s technical cooperation programme. On Article VI, there has been discussion on the amendment of Article VI of the Agency’s Statute — this issue has been linked to that of area groups. The speaker pointed out that Egypt did not believe there was sufficient reason to link the two issues but his delegation had been flexible in accepting the linkage. At the same time, he emphasized, Egypt was bound by the shared position of the African states, which calls for the expansion of the Board by seven seats. The speaker expressed the hope that all States would adopt the formula to amend Article VI. The speaker then described recent developments having to do with nuclear energy issues in Egypt . He then referred to the AFRA agreement, mentioning that Egypt last April had been host to a meeting of AFRA to celebrate its tenth anniversary.