Media Home
UN Web TV
UN Audiovisual Library
UN PhotoUnifeed
UN / NPT CONFERENCE WRAP
STORY: UN / NPT CONFERENCE WRAP
TRT: 4.32
SOURCE: UNTV
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / ARABIC / NATS
DATELINE: 4 MAY 2010, NEW YORK CITY
RECENT 2010, NEW YORK CITY
1. Wide shot, exterior United Nations headquarters
4 MAY 2010, NEW YORK CITY
2. Wide shot, General Assembly Hall
3. Wide shot, Ukraine’s Minister for Foreign Affairs walks to the podium
4. Wide shot, delegates
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Kostyantyn Gryshchenko, Minister for Foreign Affairs, Ukraine:
“As the first step, we will remove even this year a substantial part of our stock for its downgrading to the low enriched uranium to be used by the Ukraine nuclear research facilities. The meaning of our voluntary step is crystal clear – Ukraine takes nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament seriously. We expect that our example will serve as a pattern for others.”
8. Wide shot, Jordan’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Nasser Judeh walks to the podium
9. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Nasser Judeh, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jordan:
111055
“Failing to make progress in implementing the resolution declaring the Middle East region as a nuclear weapons free zone and free of weapons of mass destruction is incomprehensible. Since the failure of Israel to accede to NPT and to subject its nuclear facilities in full to the comprehensive safeguards system of the IAEA does not only undermine the credibility of the NPT and the substance of international obligations but renders the NPT a source of instability in the Middle East.”
10. Wide shot, Jordanian delegation
11. Wide shot, United Arab Emirates’ Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan walks to the podium
12. SOUNDBITE (English) Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Minister of Foreign Affairs, United Arab Emirates:
“We have seen many examples of the challenges facing the treaty today. This calls for measures to strengthen the treaty, such as strengthening IAEA safeguards regime. The main objective of the safeguards regime is to prevent the non-peaceful use of nuclear material and to reinforce mutual trust and transparency as well as to allow all states parties to the NPT, under secure conditions and with mutual confidence, to exercise their right to develop peaceful uses of nuclear energy without discrimination.”
14. Cutaway UAE delegation
15. Wide shot, Egypt’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Hisham Badr walks to the podium
16. SOUNDBITE (English) Hisham Badr, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Egypt:
“The conference should renew its call to Israel as the only state of the region not yet a party to the treaty to accede to it as a non nuclear weapon state promptly and without conditions and to place all of its nuclear facilities under comprehensive IAEA safeguards.”
17. Wide shot, delegates
18. SOUNDBITE (English) Sergey A. Ryabkov, Deputy Foreign Minister Russian Federation:
“I do believe that in the end its up to the countries in the region to decide where to go and how to proceed towards full implementation of this resolution, but we as members of P5 and jointly with the US would definitively ensure that Israel is content with this that is something that both Egyptians and others among Arabs in the region are satisfied with so it’s a mid course, it’s a common denominator that I hope would be acceptable for everyone there.”
19. Cutaway, journalists hands taking notes
20. SOUNDBITE (English) Sergey A. Ryabkov, Deputy Foreign Minister Russian Federation:
“The problem with this treaty is that the previous administration withdrew it from the (United States) Senate on the premises that had nothing to do actually with the contents of this agreement. It was in essence a politically motivated move. We do hope that this administration will reconsider and would eventually return this treaty for ratification in the senate because I think it’s a mutual beneficial treaty, for one secondly I believe its really something that expands ands diversifies our bilateral agenda and thirdly it strengthens the mutual lead of US and Russia in this very important and sensitive area as we all see here at this conference.”
21. Wide shot, General Assembly Hall
The review conference of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) entered its second day today (3 May) at United Nations (UN) Headquarters.
Opening the session, Ukraine's Foreign Minister Kostyantyn Gryshchenko, whose country still deals with the consequences of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant explosion in 1986, said that his country stood firm in its disarmament choice and added that as the first step, Ukraine would remove a substantial part of its stock for its downgrading to the low enriched uranium to be used by the country’s nuclear research facilities.
He stressed that the meaning of Ukraine’s voluntary step was “crystal clear – Ukraine takes nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament seriously.”
Many speakers urged action on several fronts, such as making the Middle East free of nuclear weapons and finding peaceful applications for nuclear energy and technology.
Nasser Judeh, Jordan’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, said that failing to make progress in implementing the resolution declaring the Middle East region as a Nuclear Weapons Free Zone was incomprehensible. He added that the failure of Israel to subject its nuclear facilities to the safeguards of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) not only undermined the credibility of the NPT but also rendered it “as source of instability in the Middle East.”
The United Arab Emirates’ Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, stressed that the challenges facing the treaty today called for measures to strengthen the treaty, especially the IAEA safeguards regime. And the main objective of the safeguards regime was to prevent the non-peaceful use of nuclear material and to reinforce mutual trust and transparency.
Egypt’s Foreign Minister, Hisham Badr, stressed that the conference “should renew its call to Israel as the only state of the region not yet a party to the treaty to accede to it as a non nuclear weapon state promptly and without conditions.”
On the sides of the conference, Russia’s Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Sergey A. Ryabkov met journalists outside the UN General Assembly.
Commenting on an initiative co-drafted by the Russian Federation and the United States (US) to ban nuclear weapons in the Middle East, Ryabkov explained that over the recent weeks his country and the US had managed to develop an approach to that idea which had been offered to Israel, Egypt and all other relevant actors in the Middle East.
He added that he believed that in the end it was up to the countries in the region to decide where to go and how to proceed towards full implementation of that resolution.
Commenting on a civil nuclear cooperative agreement with the US, Ryabkov said that the problem with the treaty was that the previous (US) administration had withdrawn it from the Senate on the premises that had nothing to do with the contents of that agreement. Ryabkov added that “it was in essence a politically motivated move”.
He also hoped that US President Barack Obama’s administration would reconsider and eventually return the treaty for ratification to the senate.
Download
There is no media available to download.
