'Nepal believes in disarmament of all weapons of mass destruction'

'Nepal believes in disarmament of all weapons of mass destruction'

Friday, 08 October 2010 10:22

Gyan Chandra Acharya, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Nepal to the United Nations, said that Nepal believes in general and complete disarmament of all weapons of mass destruction including biological, chemical, nuclear, radiological weapons in a time-bound manner.

He delivered this statement in the First Committee meeting of the UN General Assembly held in New York on Thursday.

"As a party to the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty and Chemical Weapon Convention, Nepal strongly supports the elimination of nuclear weapons to attain nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation once and for all," said Acharya.

Ambassador Acharya also stressed that Nepal fully supports the effective implementation of the Program of Action to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons.

Nepal supports the adoption of a legally binding instrument to regulate international arms transfer for transparency and accountability, he said. He also stated that Nepal stands for prevention of arms race in the outer space and encourages an early conclusion of a Fissile Materials Cut-Off Treaty.

While highlighting Nepal as a host country to the United Nations Regional Centre for Peace and Disarmament in Asia and the Pacific, Ambassador Acharya informed the Committee that Nepal would be tabling a resolution on United Nations Regional Centre for Peace and Disarmament in Asia and the Pacific at the current Session of the Committee.

Ambassador Acharya observed that despite over a billion people living in poverty and hunger, our precious yet scarce resources are consistently being diverted towards the procurement, research and development of ever sophisticated weapon systems which, runs contrary to our moral standing. 

Source: nepalnews.com