A UAE delegation at the Arab League is participating in the 43rd meeting of the Committee of Senior Arab Officials on Nuclear and other Weapons of Mass Destruction, which began yesterday at the headquarters of the Secretariat-General of the Arab League.

The Committee discussed, during the two-day meeting of senior officials from Arab ministries of foreign affairs, several topics related to the disarmament of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction, most notably the preparations of Arab countries for the 61st Annual Regular Session of the International Atomic Energy Agency, IAEA, General Conference, which will be held in Vienna from 18th to 22nd September. The Committee also discussed its preparations for the 2nd Preparatory Committee for the 2020 Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, which will be held in Geneva from 23rd April to 4th May, 2018.

The participants of meeting then discussed several topics related to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, including their evaluation of the outcomes of the United Nations Conference to Negotiate a Legally Binding Instrument to Prohibit Nuclear Weapons, which was held in New York on 15th June to 7th July, as well as maintaining the wider Arab position on the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons and the regional agreement to sign the treaty on 20th September.

The Committee also discussed ways of adopting the recommendations of the 42nd Meeting of the Committee of Senior Arab Officials on Nuclear Weapons, as well as the report of the Arab Group in Vienna about the benefits of presenting their draft resolution, titled, "Israeli Nuclear Capabilities," during the 61st Session of the IAEA General Conference.

The Committee decided to present a report on the outcomes of its work in the upcoming meeting of the Council of Arab Ministers of Foreign Affairs, which is scheduled to be held next month at the headquarters of the Secretariat-General of the Arab League.

Source: Wam