Statement by the Press Secretary/Director-General for Press and Public Relations, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on the Adoption of the Final Declaration at the Conference on Facilitating the Entry into Force of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT)

November 15, 2001

  1. The Conference on Facilitating the Entry into Force of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), which had been held since November 11 in New York, ended on November 13 (Japan time: at dawn on November 14), adopting the Final Declaration which includes calls for States to sign and/or ratify the Treaty at an early date and for the maintenance of a moratorium on nuclear testing. Japan wholeheartedly welcomes the adoption of the Final Declaration as it expresses the strong political will of the international community to keep working toward the early entry into force of the CTBT.

  2. Mr. Nobuyasu Abe, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, who attended the Conference representing Japan and, as the coordinator, made a progress report on cooperation to facilitate the early entry into force of the CTBT at the outset of the Conference and made positive efforts to enable the Conference to issue a strong message giving further momentum to the early entry into force of the Treaty. Japan deems it important that the international community will, based on the Final Declaration, renew its efforts for the early entry into force of the Treaty, and that the relevant states and international organizations will make further concerted efforts for facilitating the entry into force of the Treaty. Above all Japan strongly hopes that the 13 countries whose ratification is needed for the Treaty's entry into force that have not yet signed or ratified, will do so as early as possible.

  3. The CTBT is an important pillar of nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation regime founded on the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), and has an extremely great significance as a practical and concrete measure for realizing a nuclear-weapon-free world. Based upon this idea, Japan has been seeking to persuade countries that have not yet signed or ratified the Treaty. Now that the Final Declaration has been adopted at this Conference, Japan is determined to double its diplomatic efforts for an early entry into force of the CTBT.
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