World without Nuclear Weapons Forum concludes with agreement

The international conference on nuclear disarmament ended its second session on April 5 with an agreement to compile a proposal that seeks to continue and strengthen the framework of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

The International Group of Eminent Persons for a World Without Nuclear Weapons met for two days in Tokyo, with some of the 14 experts from 11 countries participating online. “It will be very important to maintain and strengthen the NPT framework,” Takashi Shiraishi, chair of the panel and chancellor of Kumamoto Prefectural University, said at a press conference after the session closed.

Representatives of nuclear powers such as the United States, Russia and China participated, as well as personalities from Argentina and New Zealand. The group’s proposal also agreed to call for measures for a specific path towards nuclear disarmament, arms control and confidence building, as well as measures to strengthen the operational process of the NPT.

More details will be discussed so that the proposal can be presented to a preparatory meeting for the NPT review conference scheduled for Austria this summer.

Another topic the group discussed was the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) between the United States and Russia. The group agreed on the need for an early resumption of negotiations.

But Angela Kane, who once served as UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs and is a member of the group, told the press conference that there was also a need to start thinking about a new framework to replace New START that would include other nations, not just the United States and Russia.

At the press conference, Shiraishi admitted that there were disagreements between the group members. In the April 4 session, when members of the group exchanged views with members of the Diet, Taro Kono, the state minister in charge of digital transformation, named Russia as a nation that had threatened to use weapons. nuclear. But a Russian representative said at the same meeting that Russia had clearly never made such a threat.

Shiraishi said that while there may be differences, the most important thing was to continue the dialogue and discussions. The group is expected to meet for a third session this fall.