Thursday 27 april 2006
Egypt fetes IAEA chief

President Hosni Mubarak yesterday spoke of Egypt's eagerness to enhance the benefits of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes as guaranteed by the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
In his address at the ceremony to honour Mohamed El-Baradei, Director-General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace last year, President Mubarak said Egypt calls for commitment to the NPT by all countries without exception.
The President also referred to his call a few years ago for eliminating nuclear weapons from the Middle East.
Mubarak congratulated El-Baradei, the fourth Egyptian to win a Nobel prize, personally and on behalf of the Egyptian people.
El-Baradei addressed the ceremony, saying there is a long way to make the world more just and to reduce the gap between rich and poor.
One-fifth of the world's population uses 80 per cent of the planet's resources, El-Baradei said, adding that $1,000 billion a year is spent on weapons but only 10 per cent of that sum is spent on development. "This is a world in which 350 million people go to bed hungry," he said.
He stressed the need for security dialogue to address all issues related to regional security.
This dialogue should be in tandem with the peace process, he added
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