Gleneagles, Scotland, July 8, IRNA-Leaders of the G8 group of industrialized countries indirectly urged Israel Friday to immediately ratify the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and abide by other conventions on the weapons of mass destruction.

"We call on all states not party to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, an IAEA Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement and Additional Protocol, the Chemical Weapons Convention, the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention, the 1925 Geneva Protocol and the Hague Code of Conduct Against the Proliferation of Ballistic Missiles, to accede without delay," they said in a statement.

"Multilaterally agreed norms provide an essential basis for our non-proliferation efforts. We strongly support universal adherence to and compliance with these norms," the leaders said on the final day of their annual summit in Gleneagles, Scotland.

Their 6-page statement on non-proliferation also emphasizes that the NPT remains the "corner-stone of nuclear non-proliferation" and that the G8 members, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, Canada and the US, are fully committed to all its three pillars.

"We remain determined that threats and challenges to the nuclear non-proliferation regime be addressed on the basis of the NPT," they said.

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