Nuclear Disarmament and Non-Proliferation
Opening Remarks by Foreign Minister Taro Kono at the side event of the Second Session of the Preparatory Committee of the 2020 NPT Review Conference on the“Group of Eminent Persons for Substantive Advancement of Nuclear Disarmaemnt (EPG)”
1. On April 24th, Mr. Taro Kono, Minister for Foreign Affairs, attended the side event “Group of Eminent Persons for Substantive Advancement of Nuclear Disarmaemnt (EPG),” and made opening remarks.
2. Minister Kono stated that the recommendations are themselves an attempt of bridge buiding since the EPG integrated the reccomendations while overcoming different way of thinking by the EPG members with different approaches.In this regard, Minister Kono admitted that the reccomendations will be useful reference for the international community.
3. Minister Kono introduced the points he found interesting in the recomendatins; the necessity to restore civility in discourse, and the lack of widely shared understanding of effective definition of nuclear disarmament that enables enforcement against verfification and incompliance. Based upon these points, Minister Kono also mentioned that meaningful discussions are important to advance nuclear disarmament.
4. At the side event, Minister Kono handed over the recommendations (PDF) to Ambassador Adam Bugajski, Chair of the Second Prepatory Committee of the 2020 NPT Review Conference. In addition, a presentation on the recommendations was made by a member of the EPG, followed by the panel discussion with the EPG member and experts.