Japan to invite nuclear disarmament confab chair for A-Bomb anniv.
It will be the first time a chair of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty review conference, which is held every five years in principle, attends the memorial ceremony, the Foreign Ministry said, citing data since 2000. The move signals Japan's desire to use his presence to help build momentum toward disarmament.
The Japanese government also expects Robert Floyd, head of the body overseeing an international nuclear test-ban treaty, to attend the Aug. 6 ceremony in Hiroshima and the Aug. 9 ceremony in Nagasaki, the other city hit by an atomic bomb.
Floyd has served as executive secretary of the preparatory commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization since 2021 and previously attended the ceremony in Hiroshima in 2023 at the invitation of the Japanese government led by then Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.
The CTBT, adopted by the U.N. General Assembly in 1996, prohibits countries from carrying out all types of nuclear explosive tests but has yet to enter into force as nuclear powers like the United States and China have not ratified it.
The Japanese government sees the treaty as "a key norm that does not allow nuclear testing and plays an important role in nuclear nonproliferation," according to a senior Foreign Ministry official.
A total of 178 countries, including Japan, have ratified the CTBT, but for it to take effect, it must be signed and ratified by 44 treaty-defined nuclear technology holder states. Nine of these, including China, North Korea and the United States, have yet to sign or ratify.
While advocating for a world without nuclear weapons, Japan has not joined the U.N. nuclear ban treaty, as a complete prohibition conflicts with its policy of relying on U.S. nuclear deterrence for protection against potential threats.
The Japanese government has called for maintaining and strengthening the NPT regime, which includes both nuclear and non-nuclear states.
Amid deep divisions between nuclear-armed and non-nuclear states, the NPT review conference has failed to adopt a final document for two consecutive meetings. The most recent gathering in 2022 flopped due to opposition from Russia.
The chair of next year's NPT review conference is expected to be invited to Japan for a four-day visit starting Monday, the sources said.
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