Ambassador Abdulkadir Bin
Rimdap becomes new Chairperson
of Working Group A of the
Preparatory Commission for
the CTBTO

Ambassador Abdulkadir Bin Rimdap of Nigeria has been appointed Chairperson of Working Group A of the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) at Part II of the Twenty-Fifth Session of the Preparatory Commission on 3 October 2005.  Working Group A is a subsidiary body of the Preparatory Commission responsible for budgetary and administrative matters. Ambassador Rimdap succeeds Ambassador Tibor Toth of Hungary who has been appointed Executive Secretary of the Preparatory Commission for the CTBTO.    Ambassador Rimdap is a senior Nigerian diplomat with extensive experience in multilateral diplomacy.  In past assignments he served as Minister of the Permanent Mission of Nigeria to the United Nations in Geneva, Ambassador of Nigeria to Austria and Permanent Representative of Nigeria to the United Nations and other international organizations in Vienna and as Director of the First United Nations Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Abuja, Nigeria.  Currently, Ambassador Rimdap is the Director of the International Organizations Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Nigeria.  From January to June 2002, he was the Chairperson of the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization.  The Preparatory Commission for the CTBTO was established by States Signatories on 19 November 1996 at the United Nations in New York.  It is mandated to carry out all necessary preparations for the effective implementation of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), including the establishment of the global verification regime, which should be operational when the Treaty enters into force.  The Preparatory Commission for the CTBTO also prepares for the first Conference of States Parties to the Treaty, which will take place no later than 30 days after the Treaty?s entry into force.  The CTBT bans any nuclear weapons test explosions or any other nuclear explosions. Drafted at the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva, and adopted by the General Assembly on 10 September 1996, the Treaty was opened for signature on 24 September 1996 at the United Nations headquarters in New York.  To date, 176 States have signed the Treaty and 125 have ratified it.   To enter into force, the CTBT must be singed and ratified by the 44 States listed in Annex 2 to the Treaty. These States formally participated in the work of the 1996 session of the Conference on Disarmament and possessed nuclear power or research reactors at that time. To date, 33 of the Annex 2 States have ratified the Treaty.

For further information on the CTBTO, please see www.ctbto.org or contact:
Annika Thunborg, Chief, Public Information  
T    +43 1 26030-6375  
E    [email protected]
M    +43 699 1459 6375       
I    www.ctbto.org