Ban congratulates Brazilian-Argentine agency for work on nuclear non-proliferation

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today congratulated the Brazilian-Argentine Agency for Accounting and Control of Nuclear Materials (ABACC) for its 20 years of working for nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation.

“On the twentieth anniversary of the establishment of the Brazilian-Argentine Agency for Accounting and Control of Nuclear Materials, the Secretary-General congratulates both governments on this significant milestone,” according to a statement issued by his spokesperson.

“ABACC has made a very substantial contribution to regional nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation by providing for a sound regional framework for the application of International Atomic Energy Agency [IAEA] safeguards and facilitated the entry into force of the Treaty of Tlatelolco, the nuclear-weapon-free zone encompassing of the entire Latin America and the Caribbean region,” the statement said.

Brazil and Argentina signed the Guadalajara Agreement for the Exclusively Peaceful Use of Nuclear Energy (Bilateral Agreement), in which created the ABACC, in June 1991. It calls for information exchanges and inspections.

Brazil, Argentina, the IAEA and the ABACC signed an agreement on 13 December 1991 that consolidated the system for application of safeguards that is currently in force in both countries.

The Tlatelolco treaty, named after the district in Mexico City where it was signed, is also known as the Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Latin America and the Caribbean.