PRIMAKOV, CHRISTOPHER PROCLAIM PROGRESS ON NUCLEAR TEST BAN TREATY.

Following ninety minutes of talks in Jakarta yesterday, U.S. secretary of state Warren Christopher and Russian foreign minister Yevgeny Primakov announced that both countries would support a compromise treaty banning nuclear weapons tests, despite the fact that it does not fully satisfy either side. In a statement released to the press, the two sides also urged other participants involved in negotiations on a Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty to support the draft when the Conference on Disarmament resumes its work on July 29. Approval of the draft treaty, proposed on June 28 by the chairman of a special committee of the Conference of Disarmament, could then be sent for approval and signature during the UN General Assembly in September, the statement said. Primakov told Itar-Tass that Russia would accede to the treaty only if it were signed by the five recognized nuclear powers and the three "threshold" states — India, Pakistan, and Israel. New Delhi, which enjoys increasingly friendly relations with Russia, has said it will not sign the treaty. Christopher and Primakov, in Jakarta for the annual regional security forum of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), also reportedly discussed upcoming elections in Bosnia and the Middle East peace process. (Reuter, Itar-Tass, July 23)

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