On September 23rd, Foreign Ministers from a range of countries will meet at the UN headquarters in New York City to hear a statement from UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon and to promote the CTBT's eventual entry into force. According to a CTBTO media advisory:
- The CTBT bans all nuclear explosions. Although already signed by 182 countries and ratified by 153, the Treaty can only enter into force once it is signed and ratified by 44 ‘Annex 2’ States. Nine have yet to do so: China, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), Egypt, India, Indonesia, Iran, Israel, Pakistan and the United States. In order to raise political momentum for the early entry into force of the CTBT, the Ministers will issue a Joint Ministerial Statement.
Attendees will hear a statement from UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, as well as opening remarks from the foreign ministers of Japan and Morocco. For more information about meeting, click here (PDF).
The first Ministerial Meeting was held in 2002, and have been held every two years since. In the joint statement (PDF) released at the end of the 2008 Ministeral Meeting, the foreign ministers reaffirmed their "strong support for the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), which would rid the world of nuclear weapons test explosions and would contribute to nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation."