The United States pays
US$ 23.8 million to the CTBTO

On 25 February 2008, the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) received a large financial contribution - US$ 23.8 million - from the United States. "This is a very welcome development", CTBTO Executive Secretary Tibor Toth said in a comment. "The United States is a major contributor to this organization. We are dependent on their funds to build up the verification regime. 35 additional stations need to be built this year - many in parts of the world where stations are yet to be built - and the 250 stations already built need to be operated and maintained. We also need to continue building up the noble gas technology. Data from this technology were crucial in the context of the declared nuclear explosion in the DPRK in October 2006." The CTBTO is funded through scaled annual dues, in accordance with the United Nations system of payment. The CTBTO budget is a split US$ and Euro budget, and amounts to US$ 56.58 million plus Euro 43.57 million for the year 2008. The US share of this budget is 22.3 % in each currency. "It is very welcome that in 2008 already and compared to the same time last year the overall payment from Member States has more than doubled," Toth said. The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty bans all nuclear explosions on Earth.  A verification regime is being built to monitor compliance with the Treaty.  Upon completion, 321 stations world wide will monitor the underground, the oceans and the atmosphere for any sign of a nuclear explosion.

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