Minister of Foreign Affairs M.U.M. Ali Sabry (Fourth from left) is seen with representatives of other countries at the ongoing 78th UN General Assembly at the UN Headquarters  in New York where Sri Lanka acceded to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW)

Sri Lanka acceded to the TPNW during the ongoing 78th UN General  Assembly at the UN Headquarters   in New York on the 19th September. Foreign Minister M.U.M. Ali Sabry deposited instrument of accession to the TPNW and Sri Lanka becoming 69th state party to the TPNW. 
The Forum on Disarmament and Development (FDD) which is the Secretariat for Sri Lanka Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, Coordinator Vidya Abhayagunawardena welcomes this achievement as Reaffirming Sri Lanka’s long-standing commitment towards nuclear disarmament in favor of international peace and security. 
Sri Lanka also ratified the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) in July this year, 27 years after signature.  Further, Sri Lanka’s accession to the TPNW and ratification of the CTBT send strong messages to India and Pakistan both are nuclear armed-states and still not party to the both treaties, Abhayagunawardena stated. 

The FDD published two publications in 2019 on “Why Sri Lanka Should Accede to the TPNW” and “Why Sri Lanka Should Ratify the CTBT” in Sinhala, Tamil and English languages. These two publications helped in their advocacy work towards Sri Lanka’s accession and ratification of the TPNW and CTBT, Abhayagunawardena mentioned.