Qatar hopes that the 2020 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference would completely eliminate nuclear weapons as a guarantee against the use or threat of their use, a senior Qatari diplomat has said.

Speaking at the second session of the preparatory committee of the 2020 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference, Sheikh Ali bin Jassim al-Thani, Qatar's ambassador to Austria and permanent envoy to the UN organisations in Vienna, said the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, adopted by 122 states, is a positive step that complies with the directives of Qatar, which calls for prohibiting weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear weapons.

The ambassador said the current global situation has become extremely dangerous due to the worsening international and regional crises as some countries strongly believe in the role of nuclear weapons in military and security doctrines, which increases the likelihood of a catastrophic nuclear accident amidst this global tension.

Sheikh Ali added that these negative developments call for adopting multilateral international diplomatic steps and initiatives to ease the tension and restore confidence in the joint global work to achieve international peace and safety, noting that nuclear disarmament and arms control remain the best means to achieve that goal.

Despite signing the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons 50 years ago, the ambassador said, the world remains far from achieving any tangible progress in the three pillars of the treaty. He explained that the reason is the discriminatory nature of the treaty, where many nuclear states have continued to develop nuclear weapons rather than completely eliminating them.

He said this was made clear at the Conference on the Humanitarian Impact of Nuclear Weapons, which was held for the first time in Oslo in 2013. The conference has been held annually ever since due to the consequences of these terrible weapons and the associated risks to humanity which has become a global concern.

The ambassador also presented Qatar's contributions to the global efforts to eliminate nuclear weapons. Qatar is one of the countries that adopted the Austrian pledge on the humanitarian impact of nuclear weapons and is co-operating with all relevant stakeholders in all international efforts to ban and eliminate nuclear weapons and to establish a world free of such weapons, he said.

As for the peaceful uses of nuclear energy in the Middle East, he said Qatar emphasises the importance of developing peaceful nuclear energy programmes in a deliberate manner, while complying to comprehensive safeguards of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to achieve the highest standards of safety and security of the region's countries.

Sheikh Ali bin Jassim al-Thani touched on Qatari efforts to promote international peace and safety such as joining all treaties for the prohibition of weapons of mass destruction (nuclear, chemical and biological), including the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and its signing of the safeguards agreement and the Small Quantities Protocols with IAEA in 2009.

Qatar also ratified the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), joined the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material and its ratification in 2014 and ratified the Nuclear Terrorism Convention.

The ambassador highlighted Qatar's tireless efforts to meet its obligations towards these treaties through national legislations including issuing a law on accounting and controlling nuclear materials in order to tighten control over nuclear materials and to prevent it from reaching those who might use it to produce nuclear weapons.

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