Staff Reporter: Echoing Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s call for ‘peaceful use of nuclear technology’, Permanent Representative of Bangladesh to the United Nations Ambassador Rabab Fatima told the UN that Bangladesh would pursue safe use of nuclear energy in power and medical sectors. Ambassador Fatima was delivering her statement at the General Debate of the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) of the 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) today. This year, all committees of the UNGA are tailored to work in a scale-down manner amid Covid-19 restrictions allowing minimum participation of member states.
Referring to the construction of Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant in Bangladesh, the Permanent Representative stated that Bangladesh was harnessing the benefit of peaceful uses of nuclear energy. She reaffirmed Bangladesh’s commitment to follow the highest IAEA standards in doing so.
Highlighting the steadfast commitment of Bangladesh which is anchored in the constitution and its adherence to nuclear as well as complete disarmament, Ambassador Fatima said that this principle was stemmed from the historic speech delivered by Father of the Nation, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, at the UN General Assembly in 1974, in which he appealed to work towards “relaxation of tension, limitation of armaments and the promotion of peaceful coexistence in every part of the world”
Stating that Bangladesh is party to all major internationally agreed disarmament instruments including the TPNW, NPT, CWC, BWC, OPCW, CTBT, and ATT, Bangladesh Permanent Representative to the UN called upon all countries to come forward to sign and ratify these instruments, which are critical to maintaining international peace and security.
Ambassador Fatima cautioned that the growing malicious use of ICTs, by both state and non-state actors, are endangering international security in our highly digitized world and sought greater international cooperation to tackle this challenge.
Mentioning that with the launch of the Bangabandhu-1 satellite for communications and research purposes, Ambassador Fatima said that Bangladesh has now an enhanced stake in outer space and called for a peaceful, safe, sustainable, open, accessible and weapon free outer space. Finally, stressing the need of a safer and better world for our future generations, Ambassador Fatima pledged to redouble Bangladesh’s efforts to strengthen UN disarmament machinery.
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