Press Releases

On January 6, Mr. WASHIO Eiichiro, State Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan, virtually attended the 3rd Stockholm Ministerial Meeting on Nuclear Disarmament and the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

1. The meeting was co-hosted by H.E. Mr. Ayman SAFADI, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, H.E. Ms. Ann LINDE, Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Sweden and H.E. Mr. Heiko MAAS, Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Federal Republic of Germany.
2. At the meeting H.E. Mr. Antonio Manuel de Oliveira Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations gave a video message in which he appreciated the efforts of the Stockholm Initiative. Then, the participants discussed priorities in advancing nuclear disarmament, perspectives for 2021 and activities towards the 10th NPT Review Conference.
3. State Minister WASHIO, emphasized the importance of steadily proceeding with realistic and concrete measures to advance nuclear disarmament, while taking into account both the humanitarian consequences of nuclear weapons and the security environment amidst the difficult circumstances, including the deteriorating security environment and the divergence of views among states on nuclear disarmament,. In addition, State Minister WASHIO introduced as one of such measures the United Nations General Assembly resolution on nuclear disarmament that Japan submitted last year, and was adopted with a broad support of 150 countries, and encouraged the participants to further discuss issues raised in the resolution. He also expressed Japan's deep concern on North Korea's development of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles and emphasized the importance of full implementation of the relevant UN Security Council resolutions.
4. The participants shared their views on cooperating further in their efforts leading up to the 10th NPT Review Conference.