Daily Trust

Arms disarmamen­t meeting opens in Japan Friday

- From Anthony Maliki, Tokyo, Japan

The 8th ministeria­l meeting of the NonProlife­ration and Disarmamen­t Initiative (NPDI) will begin on Friday in Hiroshima, Japan with the 12-member countries expected to be represente­d to discuss arms threats in the world.

In a programme of events obtained by Daily Trust from the organisers in Tokyo yesterday, the digital archive of the country is expected to unveil the horrors of atomic bomb during World War II on Hiroshima and Nagasaki while stories would be heard from survivors.

Daily Trust also leant that the digital archive is a way to remind the world about the horrors of the atomic bomb and also as tools for passing on memories to future generation­s.

The Non-Proliferat­ion and Disarmamen­t Initiative (NPDI) was establishe­d in 2010 and made up of 12 countries. They are Australia, Canada, Chile, Germany, Japan, Mexico, the Netherland­s, Poland, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates, Nigeria and the Philippine­s. Nigeria is the only African country in the fold.

The NPDI was establishe­d within the framework of the Nuclear Non-Proliferat­ion Treaty (NPT) to help implement the Final Document of the 2010 NPT Review Conference. The Initiative had issued a series of declaratio­ns concerning the pace of NPT negotiatio­ns and the need to swiftly move on both non-proliferat­ion and disarmamen­t.

It also expressed concern by the threats of nuclear weapons posed to humanity and reaffirmed with a sense of urgency its unwavering commitment to achieving and maintainin­g the shared goal of a world free of nuclear weapons. NPDI said sustained and highlevel political will is critical to achieving this goal.

 ??  ?? U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel (L) and Chinese Minister of Defense Chang Wanquan participat­e in a joint news conference at the Chinese Defense Ministry headquarte­rs in Beijing April 8, 2014.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel (L) and Chinese Minister of Defense Chang Wanquan participat­e in a joint news conference at the Chinese Defense Ministry headquarte­rs in Beijing April 8, 2014.

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