Finland to host '12 Conf. on Mideast nuclear weapon free zone

Finland will host the 2012 Conference on the establishment of a Middle East zone free of nuclear weapons and all other weapons of mass destruction, it was announced here on Friday. It was also announced that Finnish Under Secretary of State in the Foreign Ministry Jaakko Laajava will act as facilitator to consult with states in the region and prepare for the conference. The decisions were announced by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, and the US, UK and Russian Governments which co-sponsored the 1995 Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Resolution on the Middle East, and are depositary States of the Treaty, in consultations with the countries in the region, including Egypt and Syria. Iran and Israel are expected to attend for the first time. The 2012 Conference was decided by the Parties to the Review NPT Conference held here in 2010. Anne Penketh, Programme Director of the British American Security Information Council (BASIC), welcomed the announcement as the first "concrete step," since the 2010 NPT Review Conference, but expressed disappointment that the decisions took so long. "It's a positive sign that things are moving along, albeit too slowly," she said, adding that the low-key announcement at the United Nations on a Friday, which is not a working day in the Middle East, was "a case of burying good news." "It reflects the political sensitivities in organizing this hugely important conference, which aims to bring Israel and Iran to the table for discussions on their mutual security for the first time," she said. Israel, which is not a member of the NPT, has an undeclared nuclear arsenal and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Iran's nuclear program represents an "existential" threat to his country. Iran is pursuing a nuclear programme that the west fears is meant for military purposes. Teheran stressed its peaceful nature. Penketh noted that 2012 is an election year in the United States which means that the US, which is a co-sponsor involved in the appointment of the facilitator, may not wish to draw attention to the conference despite the Obama administration's commitment to holding it.