In the second half of 2012 the Permanent Mission of Hungary to the UN in Vienna indicated to the CTBTO’s Secretariat that, in case member states agree, Hungary would volunteer to take on the co-presidency of the Organization’s Article XIV Conference.
According to the Article XIV of the CTBT concerning the entry into force of the Treaty, a conference of signatory states dedicated to overview the status of the Treaty and to facilitate its entry into force needs to be convened with some regularity. Every other year the Article XIV Conference takes place, and in the years between, Ministerial Meetings are held.
Two countries, one from the northern, the other from the southern hemisphere, volunteer to take on for two years the coordination of the organization of these meetings as well as the promotion of the Treaty’s entry into force. (In this capacity, these countries are called “Coordinators”.) Together with Hungary, Indonesia will fill in this post between 2013 and 2015.
With the support of the Organization’s secretariat, during their mandate, the Coordinators will represent and promote the goals of the CTBT and actively work for its entry into force and universalization at bilateral and multilateral meetings, conferences and other events. Actions are sometimes taken jointly, while other times separately, however always in close coordination between the two countries. The Coordinators are at the same time Presidents of the Article XIV Conference and the Ministerial Meeting. (The term “co-presidency” is used to sum up this complex role).
The Article XIV Conferences and the Ministerial Meetings are usually held in New York on the margins of the UN General Assembly, while rarely they are organized in Vienna, on the basis of the member states’ ad hoc decisions. The next Article XIV Conference takes place in New York on 27 September 2013.
Following informal contacts on bilateral basis and consultations with regional groups, at an informal meeting of Subscribing States convened by the CTBTO’s Secretariat on 21 May 2013, the current Coordinators – Mexico and Sweden – have proposed Hungary and Indonesia to become their successors. As no objection was expressed, with this act the Hungarian-Indonesian co-presidency has officially begun.