RIYADH: The Shoura Council endorsed a nuclear safety report proposed by the Health and Environment Committee at its weekly meeting on Sunday.
Although the majority of members were unanimous on the need to sign the proposals, a number of members disagreed with a section in the report that suggested that Israel poses less of a nuclear threat.
“The suggestion that Israel is more stable therefore less of a threat is inaccurate,” said Shoura member Mazin Balila. Balila said there was a need to hold talks with the “brotherly state” of Iran. “A joint agreement on nuclear safety in the region is needed between the two countries,” he said. Mohammed Al-Fadel said the danger that the Israeli arsenal poses should not be underestimated, adding that it is wrong to describe Israel as stable given that it is an occupying regime.
Other members said the report failed to mention the obligations that the Saudi government would have to follow in case the report is signed. “Before joining we should not look at the incentives but obligations in doing so,” said Yehya Al-Samaan, another Shoura member.
The question at hand “is whether the Kingdom’s regulations and laws are ready to meet the obligations that come by signing the agreement,” he said.
Mishaal Al-Ali, another Shoura member, said, “Either we join the nuclear race (in the region) or we place all our efforts in stopping it.” After the session, Muhammed Al-Ghamdi, secretary-general of the Shoura Council, said that the council listened to a report proposed by Mohammed Al-Sharif on nuclear safety, the Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management, on the safety of radioactive waste management, the Vienna Convention on Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage, a protocol to amend the Vienna Convention on Civil Liability, and on the joint protocol on the application of the Vienna and Paris conventions.
He added that these agreements aim to prevent nuclear accidents by providing a general framework on how to deal and interact with the international community in the nuclear field in general and on nuclear security specifically. The council has voted in favor of the recommendations proposed by the said committee, said Al-Ghamdi.
