NEW YORK, 5 December (Department of Disarmament Affairs) - The Government of Peru and the Provisional Technical Secretariat of the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (PTS/CTBTO PrepCom), in cooperation with the United Nations Regional Centre for Peace, Disarmament and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean (UN-LiREC), organized a workshop in Lima from 29 November to 1 December, on International Cooperation and National Implementation/Ratification Procedures for the Treaty. The workshop was the first joint event arranged after the signing of a relationship agreement between the Preparatory Commission for the CTBTO and the United Nations on 15 June, and part of a series of international and regional workshops to promote the Treaty's objectives (Vienna (1998), Cairo (1999) and Beijing (1999)).
Twenty-five out of the 33 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean have signed the Treaty and nine have ratified it. The main purpose of the workshop was to identify how countries in the region can promote international cooperation in CTBT verification-related technologies, as well as to promote understanding of national obligations assumed by signature and ratification of the Treaty.
In welcoming the participants, the Peruvian Under-Secretary for Multilateral and Special Affairs, Hernan Couturier Mariategui, underlined that it was important for Latin American and Caribbean States to share their experiences in respect of CTBT signature and ratification issues, in order to stimulate governments to complete the national processes needed to achieve early entry into force of the Treaty.
The Executive Secretary of the Preparatory Commission for the CTBTO, Wolfgang Hoffmann, emphasized that his organization was prepared to support States in the region in handling difficulties associated with the development of national legislation to implement the CTBT. Mr. Péricles Gasparini, Director of UN-LiREC, stressed that as important a task as non-proliferation was, it was equally important to identify the benefits that adhesion to the CTBT could bring to countries in the region. "These benefits [should] facilitate social and economic development, stimulating and revitalizing efforts aimed at increasing standards of living, providing better safety, improving infrastructure of roads and capacity- building of men and women throughout Latin America and the Caribbean."
Other joint regional events are planned to promote CTBT signature and ratification, to facilitate a flow of information, and to provide a platform for consulting on other CTBT-related issues, particularly with respect to information
- 2 - Press Release DC/2732 5 December 2000
to the parliamentary community. In this connection, a concrete proposal was made for UN-LiREC and other institutions to assist Central American countries in sharing legal and technical information on signature and ratification issues in connection with the Treaty.
For further information, contact: United Nations Regional Centre for Peace, Disarmament and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean, 280 Francisco Tamayo, San Isidro, Lima 27 Peru, Web site: www.unlirec.org Tel: (51-1) 422-2711.
* *** *