Joint Statement by Gareth Evans and Yoriko Kawaguchi, Co-chairs 

Middle East Regional Meeting of the International Commission on Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament , Cairo: 29-30 September 2009

The International Commission on Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament (ICNND) will hold its third regional meeting – for the Middle East – in Cairo, on 29 - 30 September, in collaboration with the Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies. Commission Co-Chairs Gareth Evans and Yoriko Kawaguchi, are former-Foreign Ministers of Australia and Japan, and will be joined in Cairo by representatives from Governments, think tanks/academia and the nuclear research and nuclear power sectors in the Middle East region.

The Cairo meeting provides a strategic opportunity for the Commission to continue investigating all options for mitigating nuclear proliferation and promoting disarmament, including the prospects for an effective nuclear weapons free zone in the Middle East. The meeting will specifically focus on how regional governments, civil society actors and civil nuclear industry can effectively deal with the interconnected challenges of non-proliferation, disarmament and the peaceful uses of nuclear energy, and contribute to global efforts to dramatically minimise, then ultimately eliminate nuclear weapons.

Co-Chairs Gareth Evans and Yoriko Kawaguchi recognise the importance of Egypt’s views on nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament, and see the Cairo meeting as vital in shaping the outcome of the Commission’s major report. It will be an important opportunity to garner regional support for the overall objective of the Commission – the eventual elimination of nuclear weapons world- wide.

The Commission’s report will be issued early 2010 with a view to contributing to the success of the May 2010 international conference to review the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

For detailed background on the Commission, an independent global panel established by the governments of Australia and Japan, see www.icnnd.org