Foreign Minister Masahiko Koumura to Attend the Conference on Facilitating the Entry into Force of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT)

October 5, 1999

  1. Foreign Minister Masahiko Koumura will visit Vienna from October 5 (Tue) to 9 (Sat) to attend the Conference on Facilitating the Entry into Force of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) (ministerial level).

  2. This conference is convened by the UN Secretary General, who is the depositary of the CTBT, in as much as the treaty has not entered into force three years after its date of opening for signature (September 26, 1996), to study and determine what kind of measures can be taken for an early entry into force of the treaty. Therefore, a conference will be held in Vienna (Hofburg) for three days from October 6 (Wed) until 8 (Fri).

  3. The entry into force of the CTBT is an extremely important issue for the prevention of nuclear proliferation and nuclear disarmament. In promoting the ratification of the CTBT, Japan has solicited an early ratification of the treaty by other countries since last fall by, for example, sending a message from Foreign Minister Koumura to his counterparts and sending a personal letter from the Prime Minister to Nuclear Weapon States (U.S.A., China and Russia) which have not ratified the treaty. Japan, which will chair this conference, intends to strive actively so that this conference will send a strong message appealing for an early entry into force of the CTBT to the international community.
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