Hiroshima Mayor stresses accomplishments of G7 summit in Hiroshima, calling it “Hiroshima Peace Summit”
Jun. 10, 2023
by Kana Kobayashi, Staff Writer
At a news conference on June 9, Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui summed up the summit meeting of the G7 (Group of Seven industrialized nations), held in May in Hiroshima City. He stressed the accomplishments of the summit, saying the summit had great significance because world leaders came into contact with the reality of the atomic bombing and sent out messages to pursue a “world without nuclear weapons.” He also said the summit could be called the “Hiroshima Peace Summit.”
Mr. Matsui appreciated the fact the leaders of the four nuclear-armed countries and the Ukrainian President toured the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, located in the city’s Naka Ward, and met with an A-bomb survivor. He recognized the summit as one to go down in history. Mr. Matsui also pointed out we should express some appreciation of the “Hiroshima Vision,” the first-ever document formulated by the G7 leaders with a focus on nuclear disarmament, saying the document advocated for the continuation of the decreasing trend of nuclear arsenals, among other points. He then appealed to world leaders to take concrete actions to “realize a world without nuclear weapons.”
A-bomb survivors and others criticized the Hiroshima Vision, however, for adhering to nuclear deterrence and not mentioning the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW). Mr. Matsui presented his view: “Their opinion is right in that the document is not necessarily sufficient. We need to make efforts steadily. Although the document is currently insufficient, it retained contents best possible at this time.”
(Originally published on June, 10, 2023)
At a news conference on June 9, Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui summed up the summit meeting of the G7 (Group of Seven industrialized nations), held in May in Hiroshima City. He stressed the accomplishments of the summit, saying the summit had great significance because world leaders came into contact with the reality of the atomic bombing and sent out messages to pursue a “world without nuclear weapons.” He also said the summit could be called the “Hiroshima Peace Summit.”
Mr. Matsui appreciated the fact the leaders of the four nuclear-armed countries and the Ukrainian President toured the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, located in the city’s Naka Ward, and met with an A-bomb survivor. He recognized the summit as one to go down in history. Mr. Matsui also pointed out we should express some appreciation of the “Hiroshima Vision,” the first-ever document formulated by the G7 leaders with a focus on nuclear disarmament, saying the document advocated for the continuation of the decreasing trend of nuclear arsenals, among other points. He then appealed to world leaders to take concrete actions to “realize a world without nuclear weapons.”
A-bomb survivors and others criticized the Hiroshima Vision, however, for adhering to nuclear deterrence and not mentioning the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW). Mr. Matsui presented his view: “Their opinion is right in that the document is not necessarily sufficient. We need to make efforts steadily. Although the document is currently insufficient, it retained contents best possible at this time.”
(Originally published on June, 10, 2023)
