Note to Correspondents

Secretary-General to Open International Day against Nuclear Tests on 10 September

 

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, along with the President of the General Assembly, John Ashe, will preside over the informal meeting of the General Assembly to mark the International Day against Nuclear Tests, to be held in the Trusteeship Council Chamber from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Wednesday, 10 September.

The Day is meant to galvanize the efforts of the United Nations, Member States, and civil society in promoting the banning of nuclear weapons tests as a crucial step towards creating a safer world.

Yermek Kosherbayev,First Deputy of the Governor of Eastern Kazakhstan (Semipalatinsk region), representing the Permanent Mission of Kazakhstan, will also join the Secretary-General and the President of the General Assembly in making an opening statement.

Following the opening ceremony, a high-level panel, entitled “Path to Zero: The Role of the United Nations in Nuclear Disarmament and Non-Proliferation”, will discuss the necessary steps for further progress on nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation, the establishment of nuclear-weapon-free zones, confidence-building and other relevant issues.

Other speakers in the high-level panel will be:  Angela Kane, High Representative for Disarmament Affairs; Libran Cabactulan, Permanent Representative, the Philippines; Guillermo Rishchynski, Permanent Representative, Canada; Geoffrey Shaw, Representative of the Director General, International Atomic Energy Agency; and Felicity Ruby, Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom.  The panel will be moderated by U. Joy Ogwu, Permanent Representative, Nigeria.

The sixty-fourth session of the United Nations General Assembly declared 29 August as the International Day against Nuclear Tests through the adoption of resolution 64/35 on 2 December 2009 with the aim of promoting the idea that “every effort should be made to end nuclear tests in order to avert devastating and harmful effects on the lives of people”.

The event is being jointly organized by the Permanent Mission of Kazakhstan, United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA) and the Department of Public Information.

The Informal Meeting is open to all diplomats, think-tanks, the academic community, civil society and the media.  Those without a United Nations Grounds Pass interested in these events should kindly contact:  itilegen@yahoo.com, or phone 1 212 230 1900, ext. 322.

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For information media • not an official record