Permanent Representative and Ambassador Maria Cleofe R. Natividad Presents Her Credentials to CTBTO Executive Secretary Dr. Lassina Zerbo

Philippine Ambassador to Austria and Permanent Representative to the United Nations and other International Organizations Maria Cleofe R. Natividad presents her credentials to Dr. Lassina Zerbo, Executive Secretary of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) at formal ceremonies today at the CTBTO Headquarters at the Vienna International Center in Vienna, Austria.

26 February 2018 VIENNA — Philippine Ambassador to Austria and Permanent Representative to the United Nations and Other International Organizations Maria Cleofe R. Natividad, officially presented her credentials to Dr. Lassina Zerbo, Executive Secretary of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) at formal ceremonies on 22 February at the CTBTO Headquarters, Vienna International Center in Vienna, Austria.

Ambassador Natividad thanked CTBTO Executive Secretary Dr. Zerbo for his very warm welcome, and assured him of the Philippines’ support for the entry into force of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT). She reiterated the statement of Secretary of Foreign Affairs Alan Peter Cayetano during the Tenth Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) Article XIV Conference at the UN in New York on 20 September 2017, recognizing the Treaty’s critical role as a key confidence-building measure to promote cooperation with other States in strengthening the global disarmament and non-proliferation regime by prohibiting and stigmatizing nuclear test explosions. She further stated that the CTBT States Signatories should intensify efforts to persuade the eight remaining Annex II States to sign and ratify the Treaty in order to ensure its entry into force and universalization.   

The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, which bans all nuclear explosions for both civilian and military purposes, has not yet entered into force. The Treaty currently has 183 States Signatories and 166 ratifying States. Adopted by the UN General Assembly Resolution 50 (1996), the Treaty will enter into force 180 days after the date of deposit of the instruments of ratification by all States listed in its Annex 2. The Philippines became a Member State Signatory to the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty on 24 September 1996 and was ratified by the Philippine Senate on 23 February 2001.

CTBTO Executive Secretary Dr. Lassina Zerbo emphasized the urgency and importance of maintaining and keeping the relevance of the Treaty in the face of the current situation in the Korean Peninsula, and reiterated the urgency for the Treaty. He acknowledged the key role played by the Philippines in the nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation agenda, and requested the support of the Philippine Government in keeping the Treaty’s relevance in the multilateral and bilateral fora.  

Ambassador/Permanent Representative Natividad was accompanied by Deputy Permanent Representative Sulpicio M. Confiado and First Secretary Leilani S. Feliciano. END

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