Statement of Iran before The Plenary Meeting of the 56th Session of the CTBT Working Group B
Statement by Mr. Mohammad Reza Ghaebi Deputy Permanent Representative Islamic Republic of Iran before The Plenary Meeting of the 56th Session of theWorking Group B
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
Mr. Chairman,
At the outset, my delegation would like to express its appreciation to you Mr. Sergey Berezin, as the Chair of the 56th Session of Working Group B.Our gratitude also goes to the Executive Secretary, Dr. Lassina Zerbo for his comprehensive opening statement and the PTS for their dedicated work done in preparation for this session of the Working Group. I assure you of my delegation's full support and cooperation during this session of the Working Group.
My delegation is pleased to note that the decision on the appointment of the Chairperson of WGB was reached in a consensual manner in line with the principle of geographical rotation. Our congratulation goes to Mr. Erlan Batyrbekov from Kazakhstan, the new chair of WGB and also we commend the two other candidates from Paraguay and Norway who withdrew in favour of the consensus.
The Islamic Republic of Iran associates itself with the statement delivered by Costa Rica on behalf of the Group of 77 and China. I would also like to raise some additional points in my national capacity as follow:
- Cognizant of the exceptional circumstances and because of the technical and substantive nature of the issues under the agenda of the work of this technical Working Group, especially under items 5 and 6 and due to the lack of capability of virtual meetings to induce enough interactions between delegations, my delegation suggests that the agenda of this session of the WGB be streamlined to cover the most salient and must-do items,therefore discussions on substantive issues which, in one way or another, we need to take some sort of decisions, be deferred to the next session of the WGB, when in person participation of the technical experts of delegations would be possible. My delegation would like to put on record that, in such a unique situation, there should be no reference, summary, decision or conclusion related to such discussions and/or of any discussion in the Expert Communication System in the final report of the WGB-56 session.
- While commending the efforts of the PTS in implementing the Progressive Commissioning Plan of the IDC, the first cycle of experiments demonstrated that the quality and effectiveness of the verification regime of the IDC needs more considerations. In this regard, further improving the document to address issues related to quality and effectiveness is necessary. It is also essential that Phase 5b of experiments be continued in a cost-effective manner while ensuring the States Signatories on the quality and efficiency of the verification regime of the IDC.
Mr. Chairman,
- My delegation welcomes the efforts made by the PTS to address different aspects of on-site inspection. In order to clarify the technical aspects of events other than the underground environment, it is necessary to take action regarding the expansion of the search logic, effectiveness of techniques, appropriate development of equipment, and relevant adjustments with the related provisions in the draft OSI Operational Manual. We expect PTS to further develop on-site inspection scenarios in other environments based on the circumstances imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic.
- We are also of the view that, since the purpose of conducting the OSI Build-Up Exercises are to ensure the efficiency of scientific techniques and various equipmentfor on-site inspection operations in different environments, these BUEs should be designed for even the worse-case scenarios relying on the search logic and the use of relevant inspection techniques. Accordingly, sufficient budget should be allocated for the OSI inspection activities for BUEs and IFE after 2022 in the programme and budget to enable the possibility of development of challenging scenarios.In addition, we expect the PTS to take the necessary measures in the next OSI Action Plan to rectify the postponement of field exercises, due to the conditions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and to complete the physical participation for inspectors training programs and OSI workshops.
Mr. Chairman,
- On the issue of mobile noble gas measurement system, we would like to remind that the Treaty precisely determines the number and coordinates of locations of the radionuclide stations, therefore the mobile noble gas measurement network should be limited to the locations specified in the treaty. Due to the lack of consensus among States Signatories in previous sessions of the Working Group B, we are of the strong opinion that their operation should be suspended until consensus is reached on the use of these systems. My delegation appreciates the work carried out by the Co-facilitators in this regards, and looks forward to finalizing direct and clear guidance for noble gas background characterization as mandated by PrepCom.
- On the 2021 Science and Technology Conference, my delegation would like to reiterate that, since the sole purpose of the Treaty is for the nuclear test ban, the use of Treaty’s verification elements, including the IMS data and IDC products, for non-Treaty applications, may introduce new obligations and responsibilities beyond the provisions of the Treaty. We accordingly request the PTS to focus its efforts and resources on improving the verification regime of the Treaty. So, it is necessary to lead the topics of the Conference in this direction.
- My delegation would like to thank the efforts made by PTS to facilitate the access to the results of the On-Site Inspection action plan projects which were conducted on 2016-2019. We repeat our request to the PTS to establish a repository of OSI action plan projects containing all data, presentations of the expert meetings and contractor reports in a way to be available to States Signatories.
- We also believe that more training programs for the familiarization of the experts with the On-Site Inspection equipment are required. Considering the importance of the first draft list of equipment for use during on-site inspection issued by the PTS, it is necessary to discuss and evaluate the draft list during expert group meetings or OSI workshops based on the results of field exercises. In addition, the operating and analyzing softwares used in inspection operations need to be reviewed in expert group meetings and adapted to the requirements of the treaty in consultations with States Signatories.
- Finally the Islamic Republic of Iran appreciates and strongly supports the training and capacity building measures taken by the PTS on verification related issues. We believe that the situation created by COVID 19 pandemic is an opportunity for the PTS to further develop its E-learning training platform. We request that all training courses include an electronic learning (e-learning) component to facilitate utilization of more experts from Signatory States.
I thank you