The world biggest nuclear test base in 1991 in Semipalatinsk, North East of Kazakhstan was closed. (Photo: icanw.org)

Ending nuclear tests is a key means of achieving a safer world, the UN said Thursday, as the General Assembly met in an informal session on the occasion of the 3^rd annual International Day against Nuclear Tests. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, in a message to the Assembly, noted that nuclear tests are a threat to human health and global stability. Ban urged the member states to promptly sign and ratify the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, which will establish a verifiable, permanent global ban on all types of nuclear explosive tests. At the meeting, Assembly President Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser said that the biggest obstacles are not scientific or financial but rather the political commitment and leadership of the member states.

International Day against Nuclear Tests is observed annually on August 29, the date in 1991 when Semipalatinsk, located in northeast Kazakhstan, one of the largest nuclear test sites in the world, was closed.