UN official says 129 countries will sign treaty banning nukes

United Nations, July 7: The president of the United Nations conference drafting what could be the first treaty to ban nuclear weapons says 129 countries have agreed on the text, which is expected to be formally adopted on Friday despite opposition from the United States, Britain, France and other nuclear powers that boycotted negotiations.

Supporters describe the treaty as a historic achievement but the nuclear-armed states have dismissed the ban as unrealistic, arguing it will have no impact on reducing the global stockpile of 15,000 nuclear weapons.

Elayne Whyte Gomez, Costa Rica's ambassador to the UN in Geneva, told reporters that "this will be a historic moment and it will be the first multilateral nuclear disarmament treaty to be concluded in more than 20 years."

She said that following Wednesday's final review of the text, she is "convinced that we have achieved a general agreement on a robust and comprehensive prohibition on nuclear weapons."

Last December, U.N. member states overwhelmingly approved a resolution calling for negotiations on a treaty to outlaw nuclear weapons.

PTI