Mr. Koichiro Gemba, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan, to Attend the Fourth Ministerial Meeting of the Non-Proliferation and Disarmament Initiative (NPDI)

June 15, 2012
Japanese

Mr. Koichiro Gemba, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan, is scheduled to attend the Fourth Ministerial Meeting of the Non-Proliferation and Disarmament Initiative (NPDI) to be held in Istanbul, Turkey on Saturday, June 16.
The NPDI was established jointly by Japan and Australia in September 2010. It undertakes concrete proposals and spearheads discussion in the international community toward reducing nuclear risks, and is a growing presence in the field of disarmament and non-proliferation.
At the Fourth Ministerial meeting of the NPDI, discussions are scheduled to take place at the political level regarding concrete contributions of every kind that can be made to the 2015 NPT (Treaty on the Non-proliferation of Nuclear Weapons) Review Process, which got under way in from May this year.

[Reference 1]
NPDI: Non-Proliferation and Disarmament Initiative

A cross-regional group established jointly at the initiative of Japan and Australia, comprising non-nuclear-weapons countries that share the determination to contribute to the steady implementation of the agreements reached at the May 2010 NPT Review Conference. In addition to Japan and Australia, the NPDI’s members are Germany, Poland, the Netherlands, Canada, Mexico, Chile, the United Arab Emirates and Turkey. In September 2010, the First Ministerial Meeting was held jointly by Japan and Australia as a meeting to launch the initiative, and in April 2011, the Second Ministerial Meeting was held in Berlin. At the Second Ministerial Meeting, a joint Berlin Statement by Foreign Ministers was issued that proposed concrete future actions by the 10 countries on high priority items such as a Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty (FMCT) and a standard reporting form for nuclear weapon states.
On September 21, 2011, the Third Ministerial Meeting was held in New York, co-chaired by Japan and Australia. At the meeting, alongside a review of the activities undertaken in the year since the initiative was established in September 2010, substantive discussions took place regarding the direction of specific initiatives in advance of the First Session of the Preparatory Committee for the Review Conference of the NPT in May this year, centering on key issues such as the immediate commencement of FMCT negotiations and a standard reporting form for nuclear disarmament.

[Reference 2]
First Session of the Preparatory Committee for the 2015 Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT)
The first session was held in Vienna from April 30 to May 11. The NPDI presented four joint working papers (on transparency in disarmament, the Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty (FMCT), the IAEA Additional Protocol (AP), and disarmament and non-proliferation education) to the Preparatory Committee. Broad discussions took place on nuclear disarmament, nuclear non-proliferation and the peaceful use of nuclear energy, with a view toward the 2015 NPT Review Conference.

(*The foregoing is a provisional translation. The date indicated above denotes the date of issue of the original press release in Japanese.)

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