Kishida To Urge Greater Nuclear Transparency At Npt Review Conference
Japan's Prime Minister Kishida Fumio is expected to appeal to nuclear-armed states for greater transparency about their nuclear capabilities, in his address to an international conference next week.
Kishida will become the first Japanese prime minister to attend a review conference of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, known as NPT. The upcoming meeting will open in New York on Monday.
He will address the gathering against the backdrop of Russia's threats to use nuclear arms during its invasion of Ukraine.
Kishida will likely use his speech to announce Japan's intention to promote pragmatic approaches toward realizing a world free of nuclear weapons. Japan is the only country to have suffered atomic bombings.
Kishida is likely to express his readiness to facilitate US dialogue with Russia and China as part of efforts to reduce their nuclear arsenals.
Kishida is expected to announce Japan's willingness to take a leadership role in holding high-level talks aimed at allowing the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, or CTBT, to enter into force. The treaty is designed to ban all nuclear explosions on Earth, whether for military or peaceful purposes.
Kishida is also likely to announce Japan's plan to hold a session of the International Group of Eminent Persons toward a World without Nuclear Weapons in Hiroshima in late November.
The group will invite leaders and others from across the globe to share with them the true extent of the devastation unleashed by the atomic bombs.
Kishida will likely seek to bolster momentum for the abolishment of nuclear weapons in the run-up to the Group of Seven summit in Hiroshima next year.