Astana, Aug 30 (IANS): Kazakhstan on Tuesday called on the signatories to the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) to make every effort to get the agreement into force.

"We urge those states that have not yet signed or ratified the treaty to do so without delay," Kazakh Foreign Minister Kairat Abdrakhmanov and CTBTO Executive Secretary Lassina Zerbo said in a joint statement in Astana, reports Efe.

"It is high time to bring the CTBT into force. We owe it to ourselves and to future generations," the officials said.

The CTBT was approved by the UN General Assembly in 1996 and aims to ban all nuclear tests under any circumstances.

To date, the agreement has been signed by 183 nations and ratified by 164, but it will not come into force until the United States, China, Egypt, Israel, Iran, India, Pakistan and North Korea support it.

On December 6, 2006, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution highlighting the need to sign and ratify the CTBT. This resolution was supported by 172 countries with only two voting against - the US and North Korea.