NEW YORK, Nov 25 : Kuwait has renewed its insistence on establishing a nuclear and weapons of mass destruction (WMD)-free Middle East, which will help preserve international security and peace. This came in a statement delivered by Kuwait’s Permanent Representative at the UN Ambassador Mansour Al-Otaibi during a UN General Assembly debate on the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) report on Wednesday evening. He stressed that Kuwait is keen to participate annually in the discussion of the IAEA’s report just out of its belief in the importance of the pivotal role IAEA plays in promoting the peaceful uses of atomic energy. “With Kuwait’s 57th anniversary of joining IAEA, my country continues its close cooperation with the Agency’s various departments, aiming to benefit from its programs and capabilities required to implement vital projects for social and economic development,” Al-Otaibi said.

He also expressed Kuwait’s readiness to support all initiatives and programs that would contribute to improving living and health conditions, including the “ZODIAC Initiative”, which aims to strengthen global preparedness system to face pandemics that may appear in the future. Kuwait contributed USD 300,000 to ZODIAC Initiative, in addition to USD 100,000 to a recently launched scholarship program bearing physicist Marie Curie’s name, which aims to empower women and increase the number of women in the nuclear field.

This helps achieve the sustainable development goals, and is in line with Kuwait’s 2035 vision that attaches much significance to women as being half the society. The Kuwaiti diplomat also pointed out Kuwait’s USD 500,000 donation to the IAEA’s initiative for renewing laboratories in Seibersdorf in Austria, bringing its total contributions to the ReNual Project for renewing the agency’s laboratories up to USD 1.5 million over the last years. He noted that Kuwait’s delegation follows up with the periodical reports issued by the IAEA Director General on implementing the UN Security Council Resolution 2231 regarding Iran’s nuclear program. In this context, Al-Otaibi urged Iran to ratify and implement the additional protocol so that IAEA would be able to provide credible assurances concerning the absence of undeclared nuclear materials and activities in Iran. He recalled Kuwait’s participation in the conference’s first session on establishing a nuclear and WMD-free Middle East, while looking forward to the second session headed by Kuwait in a few days’ time, stressing full keenness to achieve its goals and urging the participation of all concerned countries. (KUNA)