Amman Security Colloquium
"On the framework of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament in the Middle East"
Biosecurity, Biological Weapons Nonproliferation, and Regional Cooperative Mechanisms”
Towards a NWFW
HRH Prince Turki AlFaisal
The Chairman of
King Faisel Center for Research Islamic Studies
Speech in
Arab Institute for Security Studies
Amman - 22 June 2009
 

I thank HRH Prince Aisha bint Al-Hussein, the Arab Institute for Security Studies, headed by Dr. Ayman Khalil, and the other sponsors of this conference for inviting me to speak at this distinguished Forum and to address this distinguished audience.

Ambassador van Vliet, Ladies and Gentleman,

The former Australian Foreign Secretary, Gareth Evans, invited me last year to be a Commissioner of the International Commission on Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament, which was formed by the Australian and Japanese Governments. It is a privilege to work with the distinguished members of that commission. The aim is to write a report as a practical agenda for global policymakers by the end of this year recommending ways to enhance the original Nuclear Non-Proliferation treaty (NPT) that was first signed in 1963 in order to bring universal nuclear disarmament to the world. Israel, India, Pakistan and North Korea are not bound by that treaty .

This commission on Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament has held many meetings so far. The last one was held in Moscow just two days ago. The good news from these gatherings is the realization by all commissioners that the world has to be rid of all nuclear weapons and to reach the reality of "Zero Nuclear Weapons." However, there are many obstacles to reaching such a noble cause; and with such an objective in mind, the Commission is dedicated to addressing all issues concerning nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament. Furthermore, I hope that our final report will be met with enthusiasm by the international community and contribute in aiding governments to rid themselves of such a genocidal threat. For its part, Saudi Arabia is a signatory of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. It has also signed the Safeguards Agreement and the attached Small Quantities Protocol. Their ratification came into force in the Kingdom on the 13th of January this year.

Ladies and Gentlemen, we in the Arab world, at the last Arab summit meeting in Doha, have called for the Middle East to be free of all weapons of mass destruction, making our part of the world the first region where the objectives of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) will be fulfilled. I have proposed that a United Nations Security Council Resolution be passed supporting that call and adding technical and economic incentives to the countries of the area that join, including security guarantees; and a stiff sanctions regime composed of stringent economic, financial, and other boycotts backed up with the threat of the use of force to prevent the states that don't join from developing nuclear weapons.

We currently have two problematic countries in the region that claim they do not have or are not developing nuclear weapons, but the international community is very dubious about their claims. The countries in question are Israel and Iran.

The security guarantees should provide for all countries in the area to eliminate the need for nuclear weapons, especially since the threat of the use of force will be used as the tool to prevent the "cheaters" from gaining access to nuclear weapons. This should logically convince all countries in the region to cease all developmental programs; or, if they already have such developed programs to dismantle them. Present a level playing field and then you can ask all to play.

This is the only way, Ladies and Gentlemen, that the international community can defuse this issue and prevent unilateral military action by Israel against Iran. Such an event will have catastrophic consequences for the region, but so will be the case if Iran is allowed to develop its own nuclear weapons. This is the conundrum we are all facing today in the region.

On a world scale, the lofty ambition of universal nuclear disarmament is as complicated as the political, social and geographic complexity of the countries that already deploy nuclear weapons. There are the nuclear weapon states, the UK, France, China, America and Russia; so called because the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty recognizes them as such. There are the Nuclear Armed states, India, Israel and Pakistan; so called because they are outside the Treaty. There is the issue of whether North Korea, which signed the NPT treaty, but exploded two devices, and the experts refuse to call them weapons; so, it remains nameless. Then, there are the issues of nuclear arms limitations, or reductions, or elimination. To add to the confusion of laymen, like me, you have already heard the Ambassador of the Netherlands refer to the CTBC and the FMDP. There are also thresholds, where such conditions come into play; and whether that stage should be called a threshold, or a vantage point, or a platform. Along these matters are verification and transparency; uploading warheads and multiple warheads; short range nukes, ready storage systems or deep storage systems; a plethora of names and designations that would make the tongues of Babel seem like the most uniform of languages. Nonetheless, nuclear disarmament is a very serious matter that deserves the full attention of every citizen of our planet. The graphs and projections of nuclear war are too frightening in their catastrophic prognostications to allow for a lackadaisical attitude towards the subject. It is a crime for humanity to permit even the smallest iota of possibility for such an eventuality to occur. We welcome Obama's call for universal nuclear disarmament and President Medvedev's positive response to it; the fact that they have begun talks on a fissile materials convention and Start 2 talks are good indications that the World is heading in the right direction. We, in the Arab World, are proud that we have persisted in calling for a Middle East free of weapons of mass destruction. In this lofty goal, we are the trend setters, not the followers.

Thank you.