GENEVA — Minister of Foreign Affairs Prince Faisal bin Farhan reaffirmed Saudi Arabia's position of supporting the right to benefit from outer space for peaceful purposes. "Outer space is for the public and is not owned by anyone, and hence no one has the right to use it for arms purposes, as this poses a grave threat to international peace and security," he said while addressing a high-level disarmament conference at the United Nations Office in Geneva, Switzerland. The foreign minister said Saudi Arabia is welcoming the intensified cooperation to confront current and future challenges in outer space. "The Kingdom also supports decisions that lead to reducing space threats by developing policies that are compatible with systems of international law, the Charter of the United Nations, and relevant treaties and agreements," he said while calling for continued efforts to achieve a balanced equation between the security of outer space and its peaceful uses, in order to achieve the well-being of humanity and the safety, security and sustainability of the outer space environment. Prince Faisal emphasized that Saudi Arabia's support for all regional and international efforts to ban all types of weapons of mass destruction. "Saudi Arabia has paid great attention to joining the agreements that resulted from the work of this conference, most notably the Chemical Weapons Convention and the Biological Weapons Convention," he said. The minister stressed the need for all countries to adhere to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, and to contribute to making the Middle East region free of all weapons of mass destruction. "This is a collective responsibility not limited to the countries of the region only," he said while stressing at the same time the Kingdom's support for ensuring the right of countries to use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, within the framework of nuclear agreements and adherence to nuclear safety standards. In his speech, Prince Faisal renewed the Kingdom's thanks and appreciation of the support of the UN member countries for the Kingdom's accession as an observer member at the Conference on Disarmament. "The international community is concerned about the state of stagnation that the Conference on Disarmament is going through, which remains faltering in adopting a clear and comprehensive action program so as to allow it to carry out the tasks for which it was created. The minister reiterated the Kingdom's demand to look into the reasons for the inaction of the Conference on Disarmament, and to avoid unilateral positions that hinder the chances of achieving collective security. He emphasized the importance of all countries showing the necessary flexibility and political will required to activate the role of the Conference and expand the membership of the Conference, by reconsidering the mechanism of requests from observer states that are aspiring to obtain membership status, in order to raise the efficiency of this negotiating platform and open new horizons that could contribute to revitalizing its work. He expressed the Kingdom's regret for not accepting the request of the State of Palestine to join as an observer to the Conference on Disarmament this year, especially since there is no legal justification to prevent it from obtaining it
