Muscat: Oman has reaffirmed that nuclear security is a sovereign right of each state.
Shaikh Dr Badr Bin Mohammad Bin Zahir Al Hinai, Oman’s ambassador to Austria and Permanent Representative to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said that there was an urgent need to discuss sensitive nuclear security issues periodically.
Addressing the International Conference on Nuclear Security – ‘Enhancing Global Efforts’ - at the IAEA headquarters in Vienna, he stressed that the nuclear security within the borders of each state was part of the powers and sovereignty responsibility of each concerned state.
However, he added that to establish a global nuclear security regime, close cooperation was required among all countries as well as international organisations concerned with nuclear safety, according to a report carried by the government-owned Oman News Agency (ONA). .
The Permanent Representative of the Sultanate to IAEA said that although Oman does not possess any nuclear materials, as part of its keenness to contribute to the adoption of a global system of nuclear security, it joined the Convention on Physical Protection of Nuclear Material in 2006.
Shaikh Al Hinai assured Oman’s cooperation with IAEA for positive results.
He touched upon Oman’s firm conviction of the urgent need to make significant progress in nuclear disarmament, in parallel with nuclear non-proliferation, in order to maintain international peace and security.
Oman has always backed negotiations for a peaceful solution to Iran’s dispute over its nuclear energy programme with the West.
“The Sultanate hopes Washington will engage in a direct dialogue with Teheran to resolve the crisis over the Iranian nuclear programme,” says a policy statement posted on the official website of Oman’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The statement adds that the Sultanate has no reason not to believe Iran’s assurances that its programme has purely civilian purposes.
