20 years later: U.S., Japan and Kazakhstan reaffirm support for CTBT

ASTANA. KAZINFORM The Stimson Center and the Arms Control Association hosted a panel discussion about the history and progress of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) 20 years after it was signed on September 24, 1996. To date, 183 states have signed the treaty.

Represented in the panel were senior officials from states that have been strong supporters of the treaty over the past 20 years.

Rose Gottemoeller, the undersecretary for arms control and international security and Adam Scheinman, the special representative of the president of nuclear nonproliferation reiterated the United States’ strong support for the CTBT and its entry into force. Under Secretary Gottemoeller remarked that the United States had been the first nation to sign the CTBT, although it has not yet been ratified by the Senate.

Mitsuru Kitano, ambassador and permanent representative of Japan to the international organizations in Vienna, highlighted Japan’s longstanding engagement with the treaty.

Ambassador Kairat Umarov, ambassador of Kazakhstan to the United States pointed to the closing of its Semipalatinsk nuclear site 25 years ago as one indication of its commitment to the ban of nuclear testing. Japan and Kazakhstan currently co-chair the Article XIV Conference to facilitate the entry into force of the treaty.

Although the panelists lauded the accomplishments of the past 20 years, with Gottemoeller characterizing the CTBT as the “longest sought, hardest fought prize,” all agreed that much work is left to be done.

Read more at  Project for the CTBT