Jordan renews call for nuke-free Middle East

Jordan has renewed call on the region's countries, including Israel, to join the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and make their nuclear facilities subject to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) security system, in order to establish a nuclear-free zone in the Middle East, the Jordanian news agency Petra reported Sunday.

Taking part in the 59th Regular Session of IAEA General Conference 2015 recently held at the agency's headquarters in Vienna, Chairman of Jordan Atomic Energy Commission (JAEC), Khaled Toukan, told the participants that the region's countries' joining of the NPT would contribute to peace and security and constitutes an incentive for them to focus on peoples' economic and social development.

Toukan, who headed the Jordanian delegation to the conference, said the Kingdom is adopting highest international standards of nuclear transparency and public safety and security, in implementing its nuclear program, expected in 2023.

He added that Jordan is committed to the IAEA's security system and considering it a key element in international efforts to prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons and restrict the use of nuclear energy in peaceful applications that benefit the countries and peoples of the world.

On the sidelines of the conference, the Jordanian delegation held meetings with officials in a number of participating countries to discuss cooperation in the field of nuclear energy, including IAEA Director-General, Yukiya Amano, US Secretary of Energy, Ernest Moniz, and Russia's ROSATOM, Director-General Sergey Kirienko.