The 19th UN Conference on Disarmament Issues

August 20, 2007

The 19th UN Conference on Disarmament Issues will be held in Sapporo City (Sapporo Convention Center) from August 27 (Mon) to 29 (Wed) under the auspices of the United Nations Department for Disarmament Affairs and the United Nations Regional Centre for Peace and Disarmament in Asia and the Pacific in cooperation with the Hokkaido Prefectural Government, Sapporo City, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Mr. Sergio de Queiroz Duarte, High Representative for Disarmament of the United Nations, which will host the conference, will attend. The conference will also be attended by Mr. Takeshi Nakane, Director-General of the Disarmament, Non-proliferation and Science Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Sumio Tarui, Ambassador of Japan to the Conference on Disarmament, Mr. Yukiya Amano, Ambassador of the Permanent Mission of Japan to the International Organizations in Vienna, other officials and also intellectuals from Japan and other countries in a private capacity. In a special session to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the entry-into-force of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), Mr. Rogelio Pfirter, Director-General of the Technical Secretariat of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), will deliver a keynote speech.
The theme of this conference in Sapporo is the “New Vision and Required Leadership towards a World free from Nuclear Weapons and Other Weapons of Mass Destruction.” Issues such as nuclear non-proliferation regime, nuclear programs of North Korea and Iran, nuclear black market, multinational efforts for nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation will be discussed from various points of view.
The Government of Japan hopes that the participants will have proactive discussions and achieve substantial results as the importance of international effort is growing in the fields of disarmament and non-proliferation.

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