Barack Obama Wants Test Ban Treaty: White House

Sunday, April 5, 2009 at 1:30 pm

Barack Obama Wants Test Ban Treaty: White House PRAGUE: US President Barack Obama will seek Senate ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and call for a global summit on nuclear security in a speech in Prague, the White House said.

The commitment was contained in a “Fact Sheet” issued by the White House in Prague, on the latest stop of Obama’s debut European tour.

“To achieve a global ban on nuclear testing, the Obama Administration will work to bring the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty into force, including Senate ratification of the Treaty,” the White House said in a statement.

“The Treaty has already been ratified by 148 countries, and it will enter into force once it is ratified by the U.S., China, India, Pakistan, Israel, Iran, Egypt, Indonesia, and North Korea.”

In a major speech in Prague, on the latest leg of his European tour, Obama would also seek to negotiate a new international treaty that “verifiably ends the production of fissile materials for nuclear weapons,” the statement said.

The White House also announced that Obama would call a Global Summit on Nuclear Security to discuss how to forge new partnerships to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons and to secure nuclear materials.

The CTBT would ban all nuclear explosions for any purpose. It cannot come into effect as nuclear powers such as the United States and China have not ratified it or, in the case of India and rival Pakistan, even signed it.

The United States has not conducted a nuclear test since 1992.