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Hiroshima Prefecture, SIPRI to make joint proposals for nuclear abolition at August conference

by Shunji Akechi, Staff Writer

It was learned on April 25 that Hiroshima Prefecture and the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) will make joint proposals for the abolition of nuclear weapons at the Hiroshima Round Table, a conference to discuss nuclear disarmament in East Asia that will be held in Hiroshima in early August. The Swedish institute and researchers from Hiroshima and Tokyo will launch a joint research program in the near future.

The joint research will be on such themes as overcoming the divisions between the nuclear and non-nuclear weapon states over the process of nuclear disarmament and abolition. The prefectural government expects that the joint research team will make concrete policy proposals for dealing with North Korea, which has been conducting nuclear tests and firing missiles, and creating an international framework to facilitate nuclear abolition. The prefecture has obtained informal commitments from the researchers in Hiroshima and Tokyo.

The prefecture will hold a symposium in Vienna, Austria on May 2, when the first Preparatory Committee for the 2020 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) is being held in the city. The symposium will focus on actions that should be taken to bridge the gap between the nuclear and non-nuclear nations. At this event, SIPRI will make a presentation that constitutes the basis of the new joint research.

SIPRI is a think tank that studies peaceful resolutions to international disputes and other issues. Its yearbook, which reports on the world’s arms expenditures and nuclear non-proliferation, among other issues, has been highly regarded by the international community. The prefectural government concluded an agreement on the joint research with SIPRI in March.

(Originally published on April 26, 2017)

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