WGB 58 is just around the corner
Informing about the possibilities for participating online
Working Group B 58 (21 February till 4 March) is just around the corner. As the upcoming meetings once again will take on a hybrid format, more people are able to get log-in access and follow the meetings on Interprefy – the platform used for all online WGB meetings, as well as the expert groups.
Preparing young professionals for a future within the CTBT sphere
The CTBT Young Professionals Network encourages its members to look into the possibilities of joining their national delegations during WGB 58. You may want to talk to your management about this matter; as a part of the national delegation, you get log-in access to Interprefy and can observe the sessions. All the online meetings and expert groups are translated into the six official UN languages (Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, and Spanish).
Following the meetings is an excellent opportunity to learn and get an impression of what Working Group B is about, the topics the state signatories discuss, presentations by the PTS, and the general policy-making process. This supports one of the overall goals of the CTBT Young Professionals, namely, to enable the next generation to take on formal positions at the National Data Centres, the Provisional Technical Secretariat, and the various tasks related to Working Group B.
Even though online participation is not the same as being present in the Vienna International Centre (VIC), observing the meetings via Interprefy allows young professionals to become more familiar with WGB in an online setting. Besides, a review of the WGB lists of participants from 2018 to 2022 shows that on average, 26% of meeting participants are female and 74% are men. We strongly encourage female experts to participate and become part of the WGB community.