Deputizing for His Majesty King Abdullah II, His Royal Highness Faisal bin al-Hussein, on Saturday, met with Executive Secretary of the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization, Lassina Zerbo.
The meeting came on the sidelines of the start of a full-scale exercise of an on-site inspection under the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), the Integrated Field Exercise 2014 (IFE14). It is by far the most sophisticated exercise the CTBTO has conducted to date. Prince Faisal stressed Jordan's position calling for a nuke-free Middle East and said the Kingdom cooperates with all member countries of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), for that end.
Zerbo hailed Jordan's clear and supportive policy of preventing the proliferation of nuclear weapons, noting that the Kingdom's selection as the venue of this year's exercise highlights the international recognition of its role in this area, and its non-stop cooperation with all parties to serve global peace and security.
An on-site inspection is the ultimate verification measure under the CTBT to establish whether or not a nuclear explosion has taken place. The five-week exercise in Jordan is based on a purely fictional but technically realistic and challenging scenario.
This is the second time Jordan will be hosting an important event within the CTBT verification framework. A previous on-site inspection exercise took place there in 2010.