Regional meeting for Middle Eastern States Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT)

On 13-14 November, the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates of Jordan hosted a regional meeting for Middle Eastern States Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT). Representatives of 17 States Parties, expert presenters and the President-designate of the Tenth NPT Review Conference came together in Amman, Jordan, to examine the Treaty.

Topics discussed include each of the NPT’s three pillars – disarmament, non-proliferation and the peaceful uses of nuclear energy – as well as the procedural aspects of the Review Conference and regional perspectives on the Treaty. Of particular importance to participants was the implementation of the 1995 Resolution on the Middle East and the question of the establishment of a Middle East zone free of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction.

This regional meeting is part of a series made possible by a project generously funded by the European Union in line with its Council Decision (CFSP) 2019/615 of 15 April 2019 on Union support for activities leading up to the 2020 Review Conference of the Parties to the NPT. Previous regional meetings have been held for African and Asia-PacificStates Parties in 2019.

The discussion at the regional meeting was informed by presentations by representatives of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the Provisional Technical Secretariat of the Preparatory Committee for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization, the League of Arab States, the Cooperative Agreement for Arab States in Asia for Research, Development and Training related to Nuclear Science and Technology, the Arab Institute for Security Studies, and the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research, as well as panels of representatives of regional States Parties.

The President-designate of the Tenth NPT Review Conference, His Excellency Gustavo Zlauvinen (Argentina) was present to steer the proceedings and to listen to States Parties’ priorities and concerns. The Provisional Secretary-General of the Review Conference, Mr. Ioan Tudor, provided a briefing on the modalities of the review process.

The Tenth Review Conference, will be held in New York from 4 to 28 January 2022, following several postponements necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Normally taking place every five years, review conferences serve to take stock of the implementation of the Treaty and to adopt recommendations for follow-on action. Having entered into force in 1970, the NPT is a landmark international treaty whose objective is to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons and weapons technology, to promote cooperation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy and to further the goal of achieving nuclear disarmament and general and complete disarmament.