WASHINGTON, Sept 25—Representing 40 non-government organizations at today’s UN conference, Jessica Mathews, president of the Carnegie Endowment, urged key governments to ratify the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.

The NGO statement, on behalf of a diverse set of nuclear nonproliferation and disarmament leaders, former public officials, and diplomats, said:

“CTBT entry into force is within reach. The next two years may represent the best opportunity to secure the future of this long-awaited and much-needed treaty. We strongly urge that like-minded pro-CTBT states work together to develop and execute a common diplomatic strategy to persuade the remaining states to sign and/or ratify the treaty before the next [CTBT] Conference two years from now.”

Speaking on the importance of the Treaty, Mathews said:

“Entry of the CTBT into force is vital and it is urgent.  Nuclear proliferation is the biggest security threat of the 21st century and entry into force is an absolute prerequisite to the steps that have to be taken to plug the dangerous holes in the nonproliferation regime.”   

To date, 181 states have signed the Treaty (including China and the United States) and 150 have ratified. Nine more states including—China, the DPRK, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Israel, Iran, Pakistan, and the United States—must ratify before the CTBT can formally enter into force.

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Notes:

• Jessica T. Mathews was appointed president of the Carnegie Endowment in 1997. Her career includes senior positions in the White House, State Department, Congress, Council on Foreign Relations, World Resources Institute, and the Washington Post.
   
• The Carnegie Nonproliferation Program is an internationally recognized source of knowledge and policy thinking on efforts to curb the spread and use of nuclear weapons. Carnegie’s analysis consistently stays at the forefront of proliferation developments and nonproliferation policy debates.
   
• Following its century-long practice of changing as global circumstances change, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace is undertaking a fundamental redefinition of its role and mission. Carnegie aims to transform itself from a think tank on international issues to the first truly multinational—ultimately global—think tank. The Endowment has added operations in Beijing, Beirut, and Brussels to its existing centers in Washington and Moscow. These five locations include the two centers of world governance and the three places whose political evolution and international policies will most determine the near-term possibilities for international peace and economic advance. For more information on the Carnegie Endowment’s “New Vision,” visit: www.carnegieendowment.org/newvision