Disarmament summit showed promise

The success of the “Nuclear Energy for All, Nuclear Weapons for None” summit in Tehran has exceeded all expectations, says conference secretary Mehdi Akhondzadeh.

A two-day international conference on nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation of atomic weapons kicked off in the Iranian capital on Saturday in a bid to address one of the most important global concerns.

“The presence of foreign delegations in the conference was beyond our expectations,” Mehr News Agency quoted Akhondzadeh as saying in a panel discussion on Monday.

The discussion, which was held on the morning of the second and final day of the conference, reviewed the highlights of the talks, which presented a wide range of practical solutions to the looming threat of nuclear weapons proliferation.

Among the highlights discussed in one of the panels were the grave threat posed by Israel’s atomic arsenal and its refusal to sign the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

Referring to the double standard strategies of nuclear-armed states and their allies, the panel warned against their selectivity and said that impartiality should be used when implementing the non-proliferation policy.

The second meeting of the conference is scheduled to be held in April 2011.