Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda says the country is not worried about the possibility of Australia producing enriched uranium in the future, as long as the neighboring country continues to sell uranium only to countries which have signed the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
""For us, the most important thing is the assurance that Australia will obey international regulations and that the enriched uranium will never be used to produce nuclear weapons, while allowing the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to monitor the program,"" Hassan said after opening a meeting on chemical weapons here Tuesday.
Hassan said Indonesia was confident about Australia's commitment and the IAEA's monitoring.
He said the decision to produce enriched uranium was more of an economic consideration because Australia wanted to have greater value-added material by processing the uranium first before exporting it.
Australia on Sunday assured Indonesia it was not promoting an arms race by considering producing enriched uranium, which can be used in nuclear weapons.
Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer pledged that if Australia produced enriched uranium in the future, it would never be used in a nuclear arsenal.
He was responding to comments on national radio by Dewi Fortuna Anwar, an adviser to former Indonesian president B.J. Habibie, who said that Australia had to reassure its neighbors it did not wish to acquire nuclear weapons.
Dewi said Indonesia would ""probably be concerned about Australia's enrichment of uranium until we get more details of it"", adding that her country could consider uranium enrichment itself.
Australia, which holds the world's largest known reserves of uranium but does not use nuclear power, recently commissioned an inquiry into nuclear power and uranium processing.
Downer said while the government had not made a decision on whether to enrich uranium, it could be beneficial on an international level if it proved to be economically viable.
Earlier, speaking in front of participants in the Fourth Regional Meeting of State Parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention in Asia, Hassan warned of the possibility of weapons of mass destruction, such as chemical weapons, getting into the wrong hands.
""That's why, all existing stockpiles of chemical weapons must be destroyed without delay ... let us destroy those weapons before they destroy us,"" Hassan said.
He said that Indonesia had finished drafting legislation to implement the chemical weapons convention, adding that the draft would soon be submitted to the House of Representatives.
Rogelio Pfirter, director general of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), organizer of the regional meeting, said he was optimistic that with concerted efforts from all countries, chemical weapons could be wiped off the face of the earth.
However, he stressed the importance of chemical industries taking part in the efforts.
""We need their participation as without it, it will be difficult to realize our objectives,"" he told the participants from countries in the Asia and the Pacific region, who will meet from Sept. 5 to 7 in Jakarta to talk about the best way of reducing the number of chemical weapons.
| 
|
|
|
|
|
|
|