New York, April 4 (RHC)-- Cuba's Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations  Ambassador Ana Silvia Rodríguez Abascal, called for further efforts to achieve the goal of a world free of nuclear weapons, calling on UN Member States to support and participate in the United Nations High-level International Conference to Review Progress on Nuclear Disarmament, to be held in New York from 14 to 16 May 2018.

During her statement at the Opening Session of the United Nations Disarmament Commission, the Cuban diplomat recalled the concrete results achieved during 2017 in the area of disarmament, specifically nuclear disarmament

She advocated the holding, without further delay, of an International Conference on the Establishment in the Middle East of a Zone Free of Nuclear Weapons and Other Weapons of Mass Destruction.  

Rodriguez Abascal called on the Nuclear States and others protected by the so-called "nuclear umbrella" to show political will and commitment to a world free of nuclear weapons. In this context, she denounced attempts by this group of countries to legitimize the possession of nuclear weapons through the nuclear deterrence policy and a questionable concept of security, in clear breach of their legal obligations under the Non-Proliferation Treaty.