US president says will pursue Senate ratification of CTBT
IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency
Vienna, April 5, IRNA -- President Barack Obama said in Prague on Sunday that the US will pursue Senate ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty to bring it into force.
The international treaty has been ratified by 148 countries, and it will enter into force once it is ratified by the other signatory states including the United States.
“As the only nuclear power to have used a nuclear weapon, the United States has a moral responsibility to act,” Obama told a crowd of about 20,000 in Prague’s Hradcany Square.
“We cannot succeed in this endeavor alone, but we can lead it.”
As first steps, Obama said he’d push for U.S. Senate ratification of the 13-year-old Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, which has yet to take force; an international effort to secure nuclear materials; and a global agreement to outlaw the production of material to make nuclear weapons.
While Obama held out the prospect of retreating on a planned missile-defense shield in eastern Europe, he said he would press on with one of the Bush administration’s most contentious international initiatives.
While the Cold War has ended, “the risk of a nuclear attack has gone up,” Obama said.
“More nations have acquired these weapons. Testing has continued. Black markets trade in nuclear secrets and materials.”
End News / IRNA / News Code 420487
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