Roundup: Speakers urge action against nuclear proliferation as review conference kicks off at UN

The 2015 Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) kicked off here on Monday, with speakers urging constructive actions against proliferation challenges of nuclear weapons.

The month-long conference through May 22 will evaluate the implementation of the Treaty's provision since 2010, and is expected to consider a number of issues, including universality of the NPT, nuclear disarmament with specific practical measures and nuclear non-proliferation.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called upon states to "work hard and constructively in the coming weeks to produce an outcome that strengthens the treaty."

In a speech delivered by his deputy Jan Eliasson, Ban warned proliferation challenges of nuclear weapons persist since the last Review Conference in 2010, yet "important understanding between the E3+3, or P5+1, and Iran proves that such challenges can be dealt with by diplomacy."

Ban pointed out a Middle East zone free of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction can provide substantial benefits, but "it is disappointing that too little progress has been made."

In this regard, Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif reaffirmed the need for the speedy establishment of a zone free of nuclear weapons in the Middle East on behalf of the Non-Aligned Movement States Parties to the NPT.

"We are determined to continue pursuing, as a matter of high priority, the implementation of the 1995 resolution and the 2010 action plan on the Middle East and strongly support the establishment of a nuclear-weapon-free zone in the Middle East," said Zarif.

The planned zone was agreed at the previous conference in 2010, but there was no action on the proposal.

"Proliferation concerns are best addressed through multi- laterally negotiated, universal, comprehensive and non- discriminatory agreements," said Zarif, while calling upon all non- parties to the treaty to accede to the treaty and place all their facilities under full scope safeguards under the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

The IAEA, the world's foremost intergovernmental forum for scientific and technical cooperation in the peaceful use of nuclear energy, is not a party to the NPT but has a key role as the international safeguards inspectorate under the treaty.

According to Yukiya Amano, director-general of the IAEA, the agency's safeguards are a fundamental component of the nuclear non- proliferation regime, and it now applies safeguards to more than 1, 250 facilities in 180 states.

"I urge all remaining NPT non-nuclear weapon states to conclude comprehensive safeguards agreements, and bring them into force, as soon as possible," said Amano.

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.

The NPT represents the only binding commitment in a multilateral treaty to the goal of disarmament by the nuclear- weapon States.

The 2015 Review Conference of NPT is "of historical significance" and "the treaty has stood the test of changing international landscape, and made important contribution to the endeavor of upholding international peace, security and stability, " said Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Li Baodong today at the general debate.

He also said China upholds nuclear non-proliferation regime and fully supports the international efforts to establish nuclear- weapon-free zones.

"China supports the early convening of an international conference on the establishment of a zone free of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East," he added.

Li also said China, as a staunch champion for nuclear disarmament process, stands for the complete prohibition and thorough destruction of nuclear weapons and has faithfully fulfilled its nuclear disarmament obligations under the Treaty.

Conferences to review the operation of the treaty have been held at five-year intervals since the treaty went into effect in 1970. Each conference has sought to find agreement on a final declaration that would assess the implementation of the treaty's provisions and make recommendations on measures to further strengthen it.

The ongoing event at UN Headquarters in New York is the ninth Review Conference of the treaty and the fourth to be held since May 1995, when State parties adopted decisions on the indefinite extension of the treaty, on the strengthening of its review process and on principles and objects for nuclear non- proliferation and disarmament, together with the resolution on the Middle East.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said the world has to remain united in rejecting the proliferation of nuclear weapons anywhere, saying "for this treaty to remain upright we need to insure its words have weight; that its rules are binding, and that its parties are compliant."

"We are committed to working with you to prove the sceptics wrong over time, to work through the challenges facing the NPT and to carry on the treaty's essential work, and most of all to leave the race for nuclear arms in the past, and continue instead on March towards peace, stability and prosperity," said Kerry. Endite