The participation of Dr. Yousry Abo Shady in the International Forum of Primakov Center

(Saint Petersburg, Russia, 28-29 September 2023)

In the period from 28^th to 29^th of September 2023, Dr. Yousry Abo Shady, member of the council, participated in the International Forum of Primakov Center in Saint Petersburg, Russia.

The International forum, in seven sessions, focused on the discussion of the problems of the Middle East region, and the expected Russian role in this regard. In addition to discussing the problems of nuclear non-proliferation and how to achieve the goal of having the Middle East without nuclear and mass destruction weapons.

Invitations to the conference has been presented to 25 specialists (experts and researchers) in these affairs from 13 countries including 11 Arab countries, which are: Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and Yemen. This is in addition to invitations to Iran and Turkiye and to number of Russian experts and researchers.

In this forum, one of the important sessions is the one that is about how to evacuate the Middle East region from the nuclear and mass destruction weapons. But, it is said that this will not be useful as long as Israel have nuclear weapons, and the solution is to have another country in the region to possess a nuclear weapon, and the qualified country to that is Egypt. In comments on this point, Dr. Yousry stated that Iran already have a nuclear program that could be transferred to weapon, but Egypt don’t have the same capabilities of the Iranian program, and its program is peaceful one.

On the other hand, in his speech, Dr. Yousry Abo Shady referred to 3 suggestions that may make Israel leave its nuclear weapons, these suggestions as follow:

• Collective decision from the countries of the region to threaten that it will withdraw from the non-proliferation treaty based on the decision of 1995, which is the evacuation of the Middle East from the nuclear weapons. This decision didn’t take place, therefore, this treaty is illegal to proceed wih it.

• Learning from the experience of South Africa in leaving its nuclear weapons in 1991, before the end of raciest policies. In the Middle East, This needs the integration of all Palestinians and to have a one country in which all have the same rights and duties.

• Thinking of joint procedures among the countries of the region including Israel to increase the trust of not using nuclear or mass destruction weapons by any country. This could be done through forming a regional body of all countries of the region that similar to regional organizations like EURATOM in Europe and ABACC in Latin America, and to be its goal to build trust in the sector of nuclear weapons and to support the mission of International Atomic Energy Agency, and for Israel to declare its peaceful nuclear program and to ratify on the treaty of banning nuclear tests  and to have initial signing on the agreements of preventing weapons of mass destruction. This regional bod could be called MEATOM.

In the discussions, there’s an Iranian suggestion about having balance among the nuclear powers in the region, which is to have another nuclear state in the region.

In the discussions, as well, there are talks about the wanted and expected Russian role in the problems of the region and in the economic crises. In addition to that, there was a question from one of the Russian officials at the symposium about inquiries from Russians about the benefits of Russia’s cooperation with the countries of the region and for its support to them in the past. Dr. Abo Shady said that there is cooperation among Egyptians and Russians since the Soviet Union in different sectors along the history. Also, these relations is appreciated by Egyptians and they don’t forget that. Besides, they have empathy regarding its special military operation in Ukraine.