The Executive Secretary
addresses IAEA General
Conference

The Executive Secretary, Mr Wolfgang Hoffmann, addressed the 47th Regular Session of the IAEA General Conference in Vienna on 17 September 2003. The Executive Secretary is invited to speak at the IAEA General Conference each year to inform the IAEA community of the work of the CTBTO Preparatory Commission.
In his statement, Mr Hoffmann informed the delegates that the 2003 Conference on Facilitating the Entry into Force of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) had been successfully concluded with the adoption of a Final Declaration that stressed the importance of a universal and effectively verifiable comprehensive Treaty as a major instrument in all aspects of nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation. He noted that the rising number of signatures and ratifications of the CTBT meant that the Treaty was steadily drawing closer to universality. The Executive Secretary also provided an overview of activities to establish the CTBT's global verification regime, noting, among other items, that 91% of the site surveys for International Monitoring System (IMS) facilities have now been completed. He also mentioned, inter alia, the International Data Centre's work on processing and archiving data received from the IMS facilities, and reported on progress in establishing the worldwide, closed and secure satellite communications network which carries data to and from the IMS, the IDC and Member States.