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Closing Statement by South Africa at the 2005 NPT Review Conference:
delivered by Mr Abdul Samad Minty Mr President, I should like to join
other delegations in expressing our sincere appreciation for your untiring efforts
to forge a consensus on the outcome of this Review Conference. You have discharged
your responsibility with great integrity. South Africa would like to associate
itself with the statement by Malaysia on behalf of the NAM and the statement of
Indonesia reflecting the Jakarta Summit, of which South Africa is a co-sponsor. Mr
President My delegation has been actively working for a positive outcome
to this Conference, which would build upon and strengthen the results of previous
Review Conferences, in particular the 1995 and 2000 NPT Review Conferences, but
also address the important developments and serious challenges the NPT that has
arisen since 2000, including the illicit (Kahn) network, proposals by the IAEA
Expert Group on the fuel cycle and the strengthening of safeguards and export
controls. Mr President South Africa welcomes of the Geneva meeting
between the EU three and Iran and hope that discussions will continue in the context
of the Paris Agreement. Mr President At the beginning of the Conference,
South Africa stated that notwithstanding the setback of a failed preparatory process
for the Review Conference, the continued vitality and effectiveness of the NPT
is dependent on the implementation of the Treaty Regime as a whole - on addressing
all challenges facing the Treaty. South Africa urged State Parties to guard against
the continual reopening of the debate on obligations, commitments and undertakings
because in addition they may provide the logical foundation for others to also
reinterpret, negate or withdraw from other parts of the bargains struck. If we
allow agreements arrived at one Conference to be rolled back at the next, we will
undermine the very premise on which the multilateral system is based upon. We
therefore call on the nuclear-weapon States to reaffirm their commitments and
unequivocal undertakings made at the previous Review Conferences to systematically
and progressively eliminate their nuclear arsenals. In conclusion, Mr President, The
case for non-proliferation rests on the primary objective of the NPT to eliminate
all nuclear weapons and, hence, the central importance of Article VI of the Treaty.
It requires from those who do not possess, not to acquire, and for those who possess,
to eliminate. We regret that this Review Conference lost the opportunity
to make realistic progress on the most pertinent challenges facing the Treaty.
We shall make progress not simply tinkering with procedures but by mobilizing
the necessary political will to build on previous undertakings and commitments,
which reinforces the NPT so as to continue on an irreversible path towards the
achievement of the purposes and objectives of the Treaty. I thank you.
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