The Academic Peace Orchestra Middle East organized a side-event at the United Nations in New York on 6th May 2014, in the context of the third session of the Preparatory Committee for the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference. The event was titled "The WMD Free Zone in the Middle East: Constructive Proposals for the Helsinki Process by a Six Continent Initiative". Speakers were amongst others Christiane Hohmann, Head of Division, Nuclear Disarmament and Arms Control, Federal Foreign Office of Germany; H.E. Amb. Lars Backström, Deputy Facilitator of the Helsinki Conference, Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland; Dr. Tadatoshi Akiba, former Mayor of Hiroshima, Japan; Prof. Dr. Tsutomu Ishiguri, former Director of the UN Regional Centre for Peace and Disarmament in Asia and the Pacific; and Mrs. Michèle Auga, Executive Director, Friedrich Ebert Stiftung New York Office.
The event was sponsored by the Federal Foreign Office of Germany, the Robert Bosch Stiftung, the German Foundation for Peace Research, and the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung. It was organized by Bernd W. Kubbig and Christian Weidlich.
The Academic Peace Orchestra Middle East consists of more than 100 experts, mainly from the Middle East and Gulf region, whose governments are often at enmity. It is a classical Track II initiative with the main goal to help shape the Conference on a Weapons of Mass Destruction-Free Zone in the Middle East that was created by the international community of states in May 2010.The Academic Peace Orchestra Middle East is coordinated by PD Dr Bernd W. Kubbig and his team.