LITHUANIAN AMBASSADOR PRESENTED CREDENTIALS TO THE EXECUTIVE SECRETARY OF THE COMPREHENSIVE NUCLEAR-TEST-BAN TREATY ORGANIZATION
On 20 August, Lithuanian Ambassador to international organisations in Vienna Renatas Norkus presented credentials to Executive Secretary of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) Tibor Toth. During the meeting, while expressing Lithuania’s support to the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, R.Norkus emphasized that this treaty was one of the centrepieces of the nuclear weapons non-proliferation structure.
‘It is important that the support by the international community to the objectives of the treaty is strengthening and that the number of the countries that have signed and ratified the treaty is increasing accordingly. The nuclear testing that was carried out in 2006 by the North Korea once again demonstrated the necessity of immediate entry into force of the Treaty,’ indicated Ambassador R.Norkus.
Ambassador R.Norkus stressed the significance of the efforts and initiatives of the CTBTO Secretariat in seeking for a more prompt entry into force of the Treaty.
CTBTO was established in 1996 with its principal seat in Vienna. The main objective of the organisation is to secure the ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty and to develop the International Monitoring System, which would be able to register nuclear testing in any country of the world.
In the remotest regions of the world, 229 stations of the International Monitoring System are already registering seismic, radionuclide, hydroacoustic, infrasound and other data and sending it to the international data centre in Vienna and national data centres.
Lithuania ratified the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty in 2000.
