On June 11-12, Rome was the venue of an international conference on establishment of a WMD-free zone in the Middle East sponsored by the Global Zero and Russian International Affairs Council.
The Russian delegation included Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov, a RIAC member, Russian Ambassador in Italy Sergey Razov, RIAC President Igor Ivanov, RIAC Director General Andrey Kortunov, and Director of the Center for Energy and Security Studies Anton Khlopkov.
Many high-ranking guests took part, among them U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for International Security and Nonproliferation Thomas Countryman, Italian Foreign Minister Federica Mogherini, and Saudi Prince Turki Ibn Faisal Al Saud.
On June 11-12, Rome was the venue of an international conference on establishment of a WMD-free zone in the Middle East sponsored by the Global Zero and Russian International Affairs Council.
The Russian delegation included Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov, a RIAC member, Russian Ambassador in Italy Sergey Razov, RIAC President Igor Ivanov, RIAC Director General Andrey Kortunov, and Director of the Center for Energy and Security Studies Anton Khlopkov.
Many high-ranking guests took part, among them U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for International Security and Nonproliferation Thomas Countryman, Italian Foreign Minister Federica Mogherini, and Saudi Prince Turki Ibn Faisal Al Saud.
The participants were presented a report on various regional WMD programs followed by a plenary session on disarmament and security in the Middle East.
"Organized by the Global Zero with participation of the Russian International Affairs Council, the Conference is definitely a most timely event. We are gravely concerned about the absence of progress in elimination and nonproliferation of the WMD, with many others sharing our view, as the today's session has vividly shown. We do see the problems are giving rise to tensions within the NPT regime, and we do see the spawning appeals to overall nuclear disarmament," said Mr. Ryabkov in an interview to ITAR-TASS News Agency. The Russian official believes that comprehensive disarmament could be made possible "only if a number of criteria are observed with no damage inflicted to any party." "We are here for a difficult search of recommendations on how to make an entire region free of nuclear weapons," he said.
Opening remarks of Igor S. Ivanov, President of RIAC
Ladies and gentlemen, dear friends and colleagues!
It is my honor and pleasure to be among participants of the conference that starts today. I’d like to extend my special gratitude to our partners at “Global Zero”. We at the Russian International Affairs Council regard “Global Zero” as one of our key strategic partners and we are proud to be one of the organizers of the conference.
Let me also welcome, senior state leaders, diplomats, distinguished international experts present here today. If you look at the list of participants to our event, you should conclude that the idea of a WMD – free zone in the Middle East is not a futile academic exercise, but a very practical concept, which time has come.
Unfortunately, the last years have not brought a comprehensive Middle East settlement any closer to us. On the contrary, the overall security situation in the region continues to deteriorate. The international community has been distracted by problems and challenges in other parts of the world; it has not invested enough political capital and intellectual power into managing Middle Eastern security matters. This is our common fault, and we should take it as our common problem.
The international community should do much more to assist the region in its quest for more security, political stability, social development and economic prosperity. We need more collective, multilateral initiatives and specific actions involving both regional players and non-regional actors – like UN, EU, US, Russia, China and others.
The situation in the region is controversial and even dangerous, but it is in no way desperate. We have a number of success stories that we can bring to the table. One of them is the ability of the international community to deal with the chemical weapons in Syria. This is clearly a breakthrough, all the technical, political and other complications notwithstanding. The Syrian experience is extremely valuable, and it can serve as a model for future cooperation, especially if we are able to keep it insulated from current unfortunate developments in relations between Russia and the West. Another success story – the encouraging results of the 5+1 negotiations on the Iranian nuclear problem. I do not imply that the Iranian problem has been already successfully resolved, but we can now at least see the light in the end of the tunnel, which was not the case two or three years ago.
I do not want to get into the details of the WMD – free zone matters in my introductory remarks – we will have plenty of time to discuss these matters today and tomorrow. Let me limit myself to one more observation. We cannot possibly discuss WMD problems in the Middle East without getting into more general political and security matters of the region. The civil war in Syria, continuous terrorist acts in Iraq, remaining political instability in Libya – all these factors are to be kept in mind when we try to draft a Roadmap to a nuclear free Middle East. The challenge we face is multidimensional and our responses to the challenge should be multidimensional as well.
The first round of preparatory meetings of the Middle East WMD-Free Zone Conference has been quite useful – it allowed not only to reveal existing disagreements between countries of the region, but also to track some positive dynamics in positions and approaches of main players. A frank and direct exchange of views is indispensable for any progress in the Middle East WMD-Free Zone Conference preparation. Russia will continue to support multilateral consultations to define the agenda, drafts of resolutions and other matters related to the Conference.
The sooner we have the Conference, the better it is for regional security and international security at large. I tend to believe that if all of us work hard, we could realistically hold a Conference already by the end of 2014.
We hope that our friends and colleagues are ready to demonstrate maximum flexibility, innovative thinking and readiness for a compromise.
Russia, in its turn, is fully committed to supporting the preparation of the Conference. We are ready not only to actively participate in the historic event, but also to work closely with our partners on implementing its decisions. It’s high time we all moved ahead on this critically important matter.
The problems we discuss today are of high importance for Russia. We are talking about the region, where we have many Russia’s traditional partners and allies, where we have strong and vibrant communities of our compatriots, where Russian civil society organizations and the private sector have extensive contacts and strategic interests. The Russian International Affairs Council is open for collaborative projects on the Middle East matters with interested partners in the region and beyond.
Thank you for your attention.
