Lebanon calls for guaranteed right for peaceful nuclear technology

Lebanon said at UN on Tuesday that what holds the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) together and gives it consistency is the guaranteed right to non- nuclear weapon states to develop nuclear technology for peaceful uses.

“All indicators are ushering towards a heavier reliance on nuclear energy and nuclear power in the years to come, warranting a greater emphasis on the inalienable right to peaceful uses of nuclear technology especially for developing countries,” Salim Baddoura, first secretary and alternate permanent representative to the United Nations in Vienna, said at a meeting here on nuclear technology for peaceful uses.

The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference, which entered its seventh day Tuesday, has three committees with each that is mandated in negotiating the three main pillars of the NPT– disarmament, non-proliferation and the peaceful uses of nuclear technology.

“We have to avoid anything that could upset the balance between the three pillars of the NPT,” he urged at the meeting of the Main Committee III.

Baddoura said that part of the “magic formula” that holds the NPT together and gives it consistency is the “inalienable right guaranteed to non-nuclear weapon states,” to develop nuclear technology for peaceful exchange of giving up their nuclear weapons option.

Xinhua