Statement on the United States
Senate vote by Ambassador
Mokhtar Reguieg, Chairman
of the CTBTO PrepCom

Last week the Conference on Facilitating the Entry into Force of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty reaffirmed the will of the international community to stop nuclear explosions and to ban them for all time. In the Final Declaration, the participants of this Conference appealed to all States that have not yet done so, in particular those whose ratification is needed for its entry into force, to sign and accelerate their ratification processes. The failure of the United States Senate thus far to ratify the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty sets back our hopes for early entry into force of the Treaty. However, we welcome the announcement of President Clinton that the United States would retain its moratorium against nuclear explosions and abide by the terms of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty. We hope that President Clinton´s expression of determination to achieve United States´ ratification of the Treaty will be realized in due course. In the meantime, the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization will continue with the build-up of the global verification regime, which has to be operational at entry into force of the CTBT. The determination of the international community to achieve entry into force soon remains steadfast

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