UNGA president urges redoubling efforts to ensure progress in nuclear disarmament

UNITED NATIONS - Abdulla Shahid, president of the 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), on Tuesday called for redoubling efforts to ensure meaningful progress in global nuclear disarmament.

Addressing the UNGA high-level event to mark the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons, Shahid said that on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the adoption of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) this year, there is a pressing urgency to make this treaty an effective legal framework.

"I call on those member states that have not yet signed or ratified the treaty to do so without delay - especially those whose ratification is needed for the treaty to enter into force," he said.

"Likewise, the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) remains the cornerstone of the nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation regime. That is why the upcoming 2020 Review Conference of the Treaty of the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons is so important," added Shahid.

"Let us use this opportunity to renew our commitments toward non-proliferation, nuclear-disarmament, and the peaceful use of nuclear energy. I urge all parties to set aside differences to reach mutually agreeable steps towards total elimination," he said.