BASIC is hosting its second annual meeting on nuclear non-proliferation in the Gulf this coming Monday and Tuesday. There will be a number of experts and officials attending from the region.
BASIC’s Executive Director, Paul Ingram, says: “States around the Gulf face daunting security challenges, and it is crucial they communicate clearly and unambiguously their intention to seek strong international regimes that prevent nuclear proliferation and strengthen regional security. This can only happen through open and honest dialogue.”
Last year’s conference in Doha was opened by former weapons inspector and IAEA Director-General Hans Blix and involved speakers from throughout the region, the United States and Europe. This year we are also involving Iranian academics and former nuclear negotiators in discussion with counterparts from states in the Persian Gulf.
The purpose of the meeting is to give analysts and officials a forum to discuss:
• the current state of nuclear diplomacy;
• the potential for nuclear proliferation in the Gulf and associated security challenges;
• the Helsinki process to establish a Middle East zone free of nuclear weapons and WMD;
• international cooperation to strengthen the regimes that seek to stem the spread of nuclear weapons, and the choices states face between nuclear deterrence and nuclear non-proliferation; and
• the consequences specifically for the forthcoming NPT Preparatory Committee in Geneva later on in April.
The ongoing attempts to establish a WMD free zone in the Middle East, and Iran’s nuclear programme have raised the profile of this issue in the region. But the issues go way beyond the Helsinki process and the E3+3 (P5+1) and Iran meeting in Istanbul this last week and the future discussions in Almaty.
BASIC is a small non-traditional think tank based in London and Washington DC which aims to address some of the strategic challenges posed by the changing global nuclear landscape. BASIC seeks to test traditional concepts of nuclear deterrence as a security safeguard, and to bring policy-shapers together to focus on the collective security interests of non-proliferation and disarmament. We aim to build understanding of different perspectives and identify commonalities, to use this to encourage alternative approaches, and to feed these findings back in to existing policy debate.
For media queries, contact:
Paul Ingram, Executive Director of BASIC: +44 7908708175 or [email protected]
Rachel Staley: +44 7580 428932 or [email protected]