UAE chairs Arab League's committee on WMD

The UAE chaired the 37th meeting of the Arab League's Committee of Senior Arab Officials on Nuclear and other Weapons of Mass Destruction, held at the Arab League. 

Ambassador Hamad Al Kaabi, Permanent Representative of the UAE to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), chaired the meeting during which the committee discussed international developments relating to the establishment of a nuclear-free Middle East and the revival of negotiations on this track. 

In a statement on the sidelines of the meeting, Al Kaabi said the meeting was important because it came in the wake of failure of the 2015 NPT Review Conference to adopt any practical steps in this direction. 

The UAE delegation to the meeting included Hani bin Huwaiden, a diplomat from the UAE Embassy in Cairo and a member of the UAE permanent representative office at the Arab League, and Omar Al Niyadi of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation. 

Director of the Arab League's Department of Disarmament and Regional Security, Fadi Hanna Achaia, said the participants discussed a future plan to establish the WMD-free Middle East zone. 

Plans to rid the Middle East of nuclear weapons and weapons of mass destruction are being vigorously pursued by Arab countries to safeguard their security, he said. 

The 145th meeting of the Council of the Arab League next week will discuss these efforts. 

He added that preparedness is key to a fruitful International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) 60th General Conference, slated to take place in September, in the Austrian capital, Vienna. 

Achaia said that Arab countries are taking the issue seriously and believe that, security-wise, ridding the Middle East from nuclear weapons and other WMDs would serve the interests of all.