Qatar takes part in Arab nuclear weapons meet

THE 53rd meeting of the Arab League’s Committee of Senior Arab Officials on Nuclear and other Weapons of Mass Destruction kicked off at the headquarters of the Arab League General Secretariat in Cairo on Monday.

Qatar is participating in the meeting with a delegation headed by Director of the International Organisations Department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Yousef Sultan Yousef Sultan Larem.

The two-day meeting will discuss Israel’s nuclear capabilities and Arab coordination at the 63rd Annual Regular Session of the IAEA General Conference, which will be held from September 17 to 21.

The meeting will also discuss a proposal to establish a committee of Arab experts to prepare a draft treaty to make the Middle East a zone free of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction.

Director of the Arab League’s Department of Disarmament and Regional Security, Fadi Hanna Achaia, said this meeting is held periodically to discuss the latest developments in the international arena in order to evaluate the international conferences on disarmament held during the previous period.

He stressed the importance of the meeting to coordinate the Arab positions for the coming year ahead of the Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the NonProliferation of Nuclear Weapons to be held in New York in 2020, as well as the Arab action to activate the decision taken at the UN General Assembly to hold a conference to establish a nuclear-free zone and other weapons of mass destruction in November this year.