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Myanmar President U Win Myint Urges Parliament to Back Nuclear Weapon Ban Treaty

President Urges Parliament to Back Nuclear Weapon Ban Treaty   The Irrawaddy,  NAN LWIN 7 September 2018

YANGON—Myanmar President U Win Myint is seeking lawmakers’ approval to sign the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, with a final decision to be made next week in the Union Parliament.

Union Minister for International Cooperation U Kyaw Tin explained Myanmar’s stand on the abolition of nuclear weapons and the details of the president’s proposal to sign the prohibition treaty to lawmakers on Thursday in the Union Parliament.

“The government supports nuclear disarmament,” U Kyaw Tin said. He said the Myanmar government believed nuclear disarmament is the only way to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons, and the use of such weapons, whether intentional or accidental.

According to the Signature and Ratification terms of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, members need to follow a comprehensive set of prohibitions on participating in any nuclear weapon activities such as undertakings not to develop, test, produce, acquire, possess, stockpile, use or threaten to use nuclear weapons. The treaty also prohibits the deployment of nuclear weapons on national territory and the provision of assistance to any state in the conduct of prohibited activities.

Myanmar became a non-nuclear weapon state party to the Treaty on the Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) in 1992, and signed the Southeast Asia Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone Treaty in 1995, committing not to develop nuclear weapons. The country also signed the Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement and a Small Quantities Protocol with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in 1995………..

A total of 60 countries have signed the treaty and 14 have agreed to sign, including ASEAN members Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia and Vietnam.

Union Parliament Speaker U T Khun Myat said a final decision would be made on Sept. 14. He said if lawmakers want to discuss the issue in Parliament, they have until Monday evening to propose their names. https://www.irrawaddy.com/news/burma/president-urges-parliament-back-nuclear-weapon-ban-treaty.html

September 8, 2018 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | ASIA, weapons and war