On February 23, 2015, the CTBTO Secretariat convened an Informal Consultation meeting of subscribing states with the aim of changing the target date of the Conference on Facilitating Entry into Force of the CTBT (Article XIV), and approving member-state applications for the Article XIV Presidency.
On February 23, 2015, the CTBTO Secretariat convened an Informal Consultation meeting of subscribing states with the aim of changing the target date of the Conference on Facilitating Entry into Force of the CTBT (Article XIV), and approving member-state applications for the Article XIV Presidency.
The Permanent Mission of Hungary hosted an expert level preparatory lunch in anticipation of the consultation meeting, which took place on February 16, 2015. Throughout the lunch, the incoming and outgoing Article XIV Presidency reviewed the technical tasks dealing with coordinating the handover of the Article XIV Presidency. Additionally, the experiences of the past few years were discussed, particularly in reference to conference preparations. Furthermore, the tasks relating to the drafting of the closing statement as well as the planning and implementation of outreach activities was brought under discussion.
At the February 23 Informal Consultations, Japan and Kazakhstan were unanimously nominated to lead international efforts for the entry into force of the CTBT. Under this agenda item, the two countries’ ambassadors replaced the Hungarian and Indonesian incumbents, and subsequently assumed their presidential authorities. The Kazakh ambassador stressed that, in addition to the oft-mentioned upcoming anniversaries (70th anniversary of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings-2015, 20th anniversary of the CTBT opening for signature-2016), the 10th anniversary of the Central Asian Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone Treaty will also be in 2016, which further strengthens the theme of Japanese-Kazakh Co-Chairmanship.
The next member state consultations will, aside from procedural issues, deal primarily with the drafting of closing statements, under the status of Japan and Kazakhstan as “President Designates.” Hungary and Indonesia, as outgoing chairmanship will support their work until the end of September 2015.
