Progress made on CTBT, officials say

VIENNA, May 28 (UPI) -- The Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization says progress has been made in the decade since India and Pakistan broke the nuclear testing moratorium.

Officials say there has been significant progress in establishing the CTBT global verification regime since five unwarranted nuclear tests in 1998 broke the de facto moratorium on nuclear testing, the CTBTO reported.

The achievements on the CTBT global verification regime include a near completion of the International Monitoring System, with 337 monitoring facilities installed in 89 countries around the world. Additionally, 178 countries have signed the treaty and 144 have ratified it, including all NATO members except the United States.

Discussions on putting the CTBT into force have intensified recently. Several U.S. senior statesmen, including former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, have renewed calls for adopting a process to bring the CTBT into effect. Also at the beginning of May, Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs Stephen Smith called for making non-proliferation a priority.

"It is clear that a CTBT in force is a logical and necessary element of the security architecture, if today's and future non-proliferation challenges are to be addressed credibly," Tibor Toth, CTBTO executive secretary, said in a statement.