SECRETARY-GENERAL WELCOMES PAKISTAN'S INTENTION TO SIGN CTBT
Press Release
SG/SM/6715
SECRETARY-GENERAL WELCOMES PAKISTAN'S INTENTION TO SIGN CTBT
19980923 Following is a statement by Secretary-General Kofi Annan on the announcement of Pakistan's signature of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) and the second anniversary of the Treaty, to be observed tomorrow, 24 September:I welcome warmly the statement made by the Prime Minister of Pakistan, today, declaring his country's intention of signing the CTBT. Ever since the nuclear tests in South Asia in May 1998, I have consistently urged India and Pakistan to sign the Treaty, and join the negotiations to ban the production of fissile material for nuclear weapons and halt the deployment of nuclear weapons. The Government of Pakistan is to be commended for heeding the concern of the international community.
The announcement is particularly gratifying since tomorrow is the second anniversary of the opening for signature of the CTBT at United Nations Headquarters in New York, an important milestone in the history of efforts to end the nuclear arms race and to achieve nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament.
The Treaty has been signed by 150 States and ratified by 21, including two nuclear-weapon States, France and the United Kingdom. Forty-four States with nuclear power are needed to ratify the Treaty in order for it to enter into force. With Pakistan's signature, 42 of those States will have signed. India and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea have not. Of those 42 States, 10 have ratified the Treaty. The Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization and its Provisional Technical Secretariat have been in place since March 1997 in Vienna. The Preparatory Commission has made considerable efforts to ensure that the global monitoring system provided for in the Treaty will be operational upon its entry into force.
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