New York City (ANTARA) - Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi submitted the instrument of ratification of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) on the sidelines of the 79th Session of the UN General Assembly in New York.


Indonesia submitted the TPNW ratification document to the UN Secretariat General on Tuesday local time along with two other countries—Sierra Leone and the Solomon Islands.


The archipelagic nation adopted the TPNW for the first time in 2017.


The Indonesian House of Representatives ratified the Draft Law on the Ratification of the TPNW into Law Number 22 of 2023, which came into effect on December 20 last year.


"This treaty prohibits member countries that sign it from testing, storing, and using nuclear weapons," Indonesia's Permanent Representative to the UN in New York, Arrmanatha Nasir, informed at the UN Headquarters.


But apart from that, the treaty also prohibits its members from facilitating other countries to test, store, or use nuclear weapons, Nasir said.

"This is significant progress that Indonesia has made this year," he added.


Thus, the submission of the ratification instrument marks an official milestone in Indonesia's commitment to banning nuclear weapons and demonstrates its active role in maintaining world peace.


To date, 93 countries have signed the TPNW, and 73 countries have ratified it.


Indonesia is the seventh ASEAN country to ratify the TPNW after Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam.


In the future, Indonesia will encourage more countries to sign and ratify the TPNW to reduce the risk of nuclear weapon use.


In addition, Indonesia's steps would put moral and political pressure on countries with nuclear weapons to stop developing them.


They would also encourage the use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.

Translator: Suwanti, Yashinta Difa
Editor: Aditya Eko Sigit Wicaksono
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