WASHINGTON, June 8—Indonesia today announced that it would ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) immediately after the United States does. Indonesia is one of nine remaining countries, including the United States, China, Israel, India, Pakistan, Egypt, Iran, and North Korea, which need to ratify the global nuclear test ban for it to take effect.
Speaking today at the Carnegie Endowment, Indonesia’s Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda said:
“We share [President Obama’s] vision of a world in which nuclear weapons have been eradicated. We trust that he will succeed in getting the CTBT ratified—and we promise that when that happens, Indonesia will immediately follow suit.”
Welcoming the foreign minister’s announcement, Jessica T. Mathews, president of the Carnegie Endowment, said,
“Indonesia’s commitment to ratifying the CTBT after the United States sends an important signal to two key audiences. It should reassure those in Congress who fear that even if the United States ratifies that no one else will, and it sends a clear message to other hold out states that the era of stalemate is over.”
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NOTES
- 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.
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