UNITED NATIONS — Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called Monday for urgent progress to achieve a world free of nuclear tests and nuclear weapons. The Nuclear Test Ban Treaty has been signed by 182 countries and ratified by 154 of them. But it needs to be ratified by all 44 states identified as nuclear technology holders to enter into force and nine have not yet done so — China, North Korea, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Iran, Israel, Pakistan and the United States. "Current voluntary moratoriums on nuclear weapon tests are valuable, yet they are no substitute for a global ban," he said. "This is why it is urgent that the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty enters into force as early as possible." U.S. President Barack Obama has long backed ratification, but the administration has put other arms control goals ahead of U.S. Senate approval of the treaty, which faces stiff resistance from Republicans. The Senate is unlikely to consider it before Obama seeks re-election next year. Ban urged all countries that have not yet signed or ratified the treaty "to do so as a matter of priority." "Every day, more and more people are viewing both nuclear tests and nuclear weapons as dangerous relics of the Cold War," he said. Ban has invited ministers and high-ranking representatives of the 154 states that have ratified the treaty to meet on Sept. 23, on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly's annual ministerial meeting, to seek ways to advance the treaty's entry into force. Kazakhstan's Foreign Minister said its historic decision to eliminate the world's fourth largest nuclear arsenal should serve "as a convincing proof of the real movement towards a world free from the nuclear weapons." The secretary-general issued the statement on the International Day Against Nuclear Tests, which was authorized by the U.N. General Assembly in 2009.
