Ban to open CTBT conference at UN HQ on September 29

KARACHI: UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will open a ministerial-level conference on 29th September to promote the entry into force the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), the Treaty that bans all nuclear explosive testing. The so-called Article XIV conference, named after the relevant treaty article, will be chaired by Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida of Japan and Foreign Minister Erlan Idrissov of Kazakhstan. CTBT Executive Secretary Lassina Zerbo will address the conference. Foreign ministers and other high-level representatives from the 183 states signatories to the CTBT including EU High Representative Federica Mogherini - who is also one of several members of the Group of Eminent Persons (GEM) in attendance - will participate in the conference at United Nations Headquarters in New York.
Key participants’ are Fumio Kishida, Foreign Minister of Japan, Erlan Idrissov, Foreign Minister of Kazakhstan, Lassina Zerbo, CTBT Executive Secretary, Nobuyasu Abe, Commissioner, Japan Atomic Energy Commission, Lord Desmond Browne, Former UK Secretary of Defence, Angela Kane, Former UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, Federica Mogherini, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy.
The CTBT has so far been signed by 183 states and ratified by 164. Its entry-into-force formula stipulates that 44 particular “nuclear technology holder” states need to ratify for it to enter into force. Eight of them have yet to ratify: China, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), Egypt, India, Iran, Israel, Pakistan, and the United States (China, Egypt, Iran, Israel and the United States have already signed the treaty).
The treaty contains a special mechanism to promote its entry into force - a conference designed to facilitate this objective takes place every other year. While its official designation is the Conference on Facilitating Entry into Force of the CTBT, it is more commonly known as the “Article XIV conference” in accordance with the relevant treaty article. The 2015 conference is the ninth of its kind.