VIENNA, July 31 (Xinhua) -- The incoming executive secretary of the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) Lassina Zerbo will travel to China to boost cooperation between the two sides, it was announced here on Wednesday.
Zerbo, who takes office on Aug. 1, will take his first official trip for CTBTO to China soon after on Aug. 4.
During his week-long trip, Zerbo will meet with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and other high-level officials. He will also visit a CTBTO monitoring station being installed in Kunming, the capital city of Yunnan province in Southern China.
Up to now, nine of the 11 CTBTO stations hosted by China are complete. These stations have yet to send data to the CTBTO's international data center in Vienna, an issue expected to be discussed by both sides.
Zerbo will further discuss ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) with Chinese officials. The treaty has not been brought into force internationally as eight countries have yet to ratify it.
Elected last October, Zerbo, a geophysicist from Burkina Faso, was the former director of the International Data Center Division of the CTBTO. He will become the first non-European to head the CTBTO.
His predecessor Tibor Toth, a former Hungarian senior diplomat, is leaving the CTBTO after eight years as the organization's executive secretary.
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