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FSM Signs Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty

NEW YORK, September 24, 1996 (FSM Permanent Mission to the UN) - The Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) became one of the first signatories to the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (commonly known as the CTBT) when Honorable Asterio R. Takesy, Secretary of External Affairs for the FSM Government, signed the Treaty on 24 September 1996 during a brief ceremony in the Trusteeship Council Chamber at the United Nations Headquarters in New York. The United States was the first signatory when President Clinton signed the Treaty for the United States prior to presenting his statement to the 51st United Nations General Assembly.

The Treaty, which the Conference on Disarmament (CD) of the United Nations failed to reach agreement on in Geneva gained approval by the United Nations on September 11, 1996 in New York during the 50th General Assembly through the adoption of UN resolution 50/245. The FSM was one of 158 countries which co-sponsored that resolution.

The objective of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) is the ceasation of nuclear weapon tests and the eventual elimination and destruction of stockpiles of nuclear weapons. The signing ceremony was attended by heads of state and government, foreign ministers and government representatives. U.N. Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali, acting on behalf of the U.N. as depository of the treaty, opened the signing ceremony with a brief statement.