Title:  The US is disappointed by Egypt's refusal to support the indefinite extension of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). DoS Report. (950421)

Date:  19950421

Text:
ADD STATE DEPARTMENT REPORT, FRIDAY, APRIL 21 (Egypt/NPT, Russia, Bosnia, U.S.-Norway) (1230) NEWS BRIEFING -- Spokesman Nicholas Burns discussed the following items: U.S. DISAPPOINTED BY EGYPT'S POSITION ON NPT The United States is "very disappointed" by Egyptian Foreign Minister Amre Moussa's remarks April 20 at the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty review conference in which he said his government could not support indefinite extension of the accord.

"Naturally we're very disappointed by Foreign Minister Moussa's speech," Burns said. "We're disappointed by the fact that he did not choose to support an indefinite and unconditional extension of the NPT. The Egyptian government had assured us that it would not campaign against the indefinite extension of the NPT, and we expect Egypt to honor that assurance.

"Now, over the next couple of weeks as we proceed through the review process...in New York at the NPT conference," Burns added, "we're looking forward to working with Egypt and other interested states to promote the one outcome that we believe best assures our interests and the international community's interests. And that is an indefinite and unconditional extension of the NPT."

The United States remains confident that "we will have the votes at the end of the day, during the second week of May, to assure that," Burns said.

Asked about possible consequences if Egypt persists in waging a kind of campaign for its position, Burns said he had seen a reference "to some international meeting of the non-aligned movement next week."

"We're simply going to work with the Egyptian government and other governments to encourage them to, in the end, work with us toward indefinite extension," he added.

Burns also noted that the United States has "a very mature relationship with Egypt. It's a very important relationship to us. Egypt is a bedrock of stability in many ways in the Middle East and in the Arab world, and we're going to pursue a close relationship with the Egyptian government.

"When you have differences with a friendly country, you try to resist arguing about those differences in too detailed a fashion in public," he said.

Egypt is "a very close friend of the United States and we have ongoing interests in our relationship which demand close cooperation, and that will continue....We'll be in close contact with Egypt on the NPT issue; we've expressed our disappointment, and now the emphasis is going to be on working with them toward a successful outcome in New York."