In his speech at the Conference, Minister Picula emphasised the importance of the Treaty for the world security and invited other states to join its ratification. The Republic of Croatia signed the Treaty on 24 September 1996 and ratified it on 2 March 2001, thus joining the initiative for combating negative effects of nuclear weapons. The Declaration on the promotion of entry into force of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty will be adopted on the last day of the Conference.
During his stay in Vienna, Minister Picula met with Mr. Wolfgang Hoffmann, Executive Secretary of the Preparatory Commission of the CTBT Organisation, who requested further cooperation and support of Croatia in comprehensive nuclear test ban, as well as with Mr. Erkki Tuomioja, Finnish Foreign Minister, who chairs this Conference.