comments on the item concerning a comprehensive test ban. Twenty-seven years after the signing of the Moscow Treaty, and twenty years after the entry into force of the non-proliferation Treaty, not only has the agreement promised by the depositary States of both those instruments not been concluded, but this single forum for the negotiation of disarmament agreements is not even holding negotiations on the matter. If there is one item on our agenda that is worthy of inclusion in the lists of Robert Leroy Ripley it is without doubt that of the comprehensive prohibition of nuclear tests. Believe it or not, in 1963 the United States, the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union proclaimed themselves "determined to continue negotiations" to achieve "the discontinuance of all test explosions of nuclear weapons for all time". And believe it or not, in 1968 those same three States reiterated that same "determination" in the preamble of the NPT. Some determination! We do not know if Ripley ever defined the verb "to determine", but our dictionary tells us that it means "to establish the boundaries of something" or "to resolve". In other words, since 1963 those countries have been resolved to put an end to all nuclear weapon testing, only they have yet to do so. For years the international community has assigned the highest priority to a comprehensive nuclear-test-ban treaty. This was reaffirmed in December of last year by the General Assembly in its resolution 44/105. That resolution recalls that the question, "which has been examined for more than 30 years and on which the General Assembly has adopted more than 50 resolutions, is a basic objective of the United Nations in the sphere of disarmament". It also recalls that over five years ago the Secretary-General - and I continue to 
**Analysis**
The text appears to be discussing a specific international agreement and the lack of progress in achieving it, which suggests that it is related to international relations and diplomacy. The topic of nuclear testing and disarmament is also a critical issue in the context of global security and peace.

**Category**
International relations, Science and technology