Egypt leads in UN effort to stop space arms race

Egypt was elected by all to lead a UN team of experts who will write a treaty to prevent arms race in space, said Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Tuesday.

The statement added the UN team, which was created by the UN secretary-general earlier, will draft the treaty following the General Assembly’s decision on the matter.

The UN team chose Egypt’s Minister Plenipotentiary Bassam Hassan, who is the director of arms control and peaceful uses of atomic energy at the foreign ministry, to be the team’s leader, the statement added.

The team has to provide recommendations by August 2024 to the UN General Assembly on the possible elements of the treaty.

Meanwhile, the ministry said that Egypt’s election for this task is “an international recognition of its leadership in disarmament and international security.”

On October 31, the General Assembly made an announcement that it plans to form two open-ended working groups, with the aim of preventing an arms race .

Moreover, the document titled “Prevention of an Arms Race in Outer Space”, which is a resolution from the United Nations passed in 1981, reaffirms the fundamental principles of the 1967 Outer Space Treaty.