Egypt Walks Out Of Nuclear Talks In Geneva, Citing Slow Progress Toward Nuclear-Free Mideast

Source: Associated Press

ENEVA — Egypt walked out of a round of global nuclear talks in protest Monday, saying other nations are not acting quickly enough to establish the Middle East as a zone free of nuclear weapons.

A statement from Egypt’s foreign ministry said the nation ended its participation in two weeks of Geneva talks out of frustration that the zone has yet to be created. The talks run through this week.

--CLIP
The Geneva talks, which have included no negotiations on such a zone, are meant to prepare for the next major review of the 1970 Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty in 2015. Such reviews are held once every five years.

The NPT, which has been signed by 190 nations, is the world’s single most important pact on nuclear arms, credited with preventing their spread to dozens of nations since it was adopted. Iran is a member, but four nations that are known or believed to possess nuclear weapons — Israel, India, Pakistan and North Korea — are not. Of the non-members, Israel, India and Pakistan never signed the treaty, but North Korea ratified it in 1985 then withdrew in 2003 after U.S. allegations it had started illegally enriching uranium.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/egypt-walks-out-of-nuclear-talks-in-geneva-citing-slow-progress-toward-nuclear-free-mideast/2013/04/29/cec35c3c-b13a-11e2-9fb1-62de9581c946_story.html