Malaysia hosts workshop on national implementation of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT)

The objective of the workshop was to enhance the understanding of the CTBT to facilitate the earliest possible completion of the establishment of the International Monitoring System (IMS) in the region and to promote ratification of the Treaty by States that have not yet ratified it. During the three-day workshop, PTS staff provided an overview of the CTBT with focus on its political significance and perspectives, membership benefits of the CTBT, ratification and national implementation of the Treaty. PTS staff also briefed participants on the CTBT verification regime and its monitoring technologies, the IDC and its products and services for States Signatories as well as national capacity building activities of the CTBTO Preparatory Commission. Representatives of States of the region gave their perspectives on the CTBT and national implementation measures. They also discussed prospects of increased regional and sub-regional cooperation in the context of national implementation of the CTBT. Special attention was given to the potential civil and scientific application of the CTBT verification technologies. In that connection, workshop participants visited the National Tsunami Early Warning Centre under the auspices of the Malaysian Meteorological Department The workshop concluded by issuing a number of recommendations. States that have not yet signed or ratified the Treaty were called on to do so at the earliest opportunity. Workshop participants also recommended that States establish effective internal coordination mechanisms for national implementation of the CTBT. They also recommended increasing the cooperation among Member States in the region, on the political level between national authorities and on the technical level between national data centres, with the aim to develop effective networks in the region.