AFAQ NEWS
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ayman Safadi, Sweden Foreign Minister, Ann Linde, and German Foreign Minister, Heiko Maas, held a press conference Wednesday to answer questions about the Stockholm Meeting for Nuclear Disarmament.
The virtual meeting saw the participation of UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, and representatives of the Initiative’s member states: Argentina, Canada, Ethiopia, Finland, Germany, Indonesia, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, S. Korea, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.
Safadi said that the “meeting was beneficial and valuable, and we adopted a roadmap for joint action ahead of the Review Conference of the Parties to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) scheduled for next August.”
“We reiterated our commitment to the Berlin communiqué that was released last February to mark the 50th anniversary of the NPT, and the accompanying statement of action plan on the gradual work toward disarmament and non-proliferation.
“It included 22 steps to achieve progress toward a world free of nuclear weapons. We called for continued cooperation between all our partners and friends in the international community to reach that goal.” Safadi added.
The meeting highlighted the importance of building a free-Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMDs) Middle East, and the necessity of de-escalating tension with Iran on its nuclear program, he said.
“We in the Kingdom stress the necessity of reducing the tension with Iran; the region is full of conflicts and does not need further ones. Hence, we should support the launch of dialogue to reduce tension with Iran on the nuclear aspect,” Safadi added
He highlighted that the region should be well-represented in any future effort to deal with the Iran nuclear issue, adding that to reach a permanent solution to the tension, the Iranian intervention in the internal affairs of Arab states should also be addressed.
On German-Jordan ties, Safadi, who is also the Deputy Prime Minister, said that “In the meeting, we discussed means of building on the extinguished Jordan-German ties. Germany is the second biggest supporter for Jordan, and we highly value its efforts to help us grapple with the economic challenges and the burden of hosting refugees.”
He said that Germany is a “key partner” to Jordan in resolving regional crises.
Also, Safadi praised Sweden, which he described as a “key partner,” for its support for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), adding, “we have worked for years, and continue to do so, to make sure that UNRWA continues providing its services to the refugees until a diplomatic solution on the basis of the two-state solution is reached…”
“We will continue working to mobilize support for the Agency because the inability of the Agency to provide services to refugees would mean depriving more than 5 million refugees from the rights to education, healthcare and dignified living,” he explained.
For his part, German Foreign Minister, Heiko Maas, said that this meeting is a good start for the year, which could be a year of life altering decisions in terms of non-proliferation of nuclear weapons.
He said that Iran’s measure to enrich uranium to 20 percent is a “flagrant” violation that cannot be accepted.
In turn, Sweden Foreign Minister, Ann Linde, said that the meeting is aimed at advancing the agenda of disarmament of nuclear weapons ahead of the Review Conference of the Parties to the NPT, which is slated to take place in New York in August.
She said that a list of proposals were adopted in the 2020 Berlin ministerial meeting for the coming stages; they are aimed at increasing transparency, building trust and limiting the spread of weapons.
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