Machimura set to speak on 1st day of NPT review conference

Japan Policy & Politics, May 2, 2005

NEW YORK, April 29 Kyodo

The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty review conference, held every five years, begins at the United Nations on Monday with Japanese Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura scheduled to speak in the afternoon.

The review conference, which lasts through May 27, will open with speeches by U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan and International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Mohammed ElBaradei.

Machimura is the second scheduled speaker and follows Marian Hobbs, New Zealand's minister for disarmament and arms control. The United States is also expected to make remarks at the podium on the first day although a representative has not yet been announced.

During the debate, the participating nations will spell out their positions with the process ending May 11.

Following the general debate, the meeting will break into three main committees to examine the substantive points of the review conference.

Among the issues that are expected to be considered are: the universality of the treaty, nuclear nonproliferation and disarmament, safeguards, verification and compliance, nuclear-weapon-free zones, security assurances, peaceful uses of nuclear energy and withdrawal from the treaty.

Many consider the 1968 treaty a landmark agreement, which seeks to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons technology, foster the peaceful use of nuclear energy and further the goal of general and complete disarmament.

The NPT review conferences have been held since the treaty took effect 1970.

Currently 188 states, including the five nuclear powers -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States -- are signatories of the treaty. India, Israel and Pakistan are three nuclear powers that are not party to the treaty, and North Korea announced its withdrawal from the treaty in January 2003.

Although there is concern about an ''erosion of confidence'' in the NPT as some nations continue their buildup of nuclear weapons, Sergio de Queiroz Duarte, the Brazilian disarmament envoy, was optimistic at a press conference on Friday that the parties would work together to increase their confidence in the treaty.

''What I feel is that all parties have a genuine desire to support the treaty to make it effective,'' Duarte said. ''Personally, I feel that not reaching a consensus outcome could be very negative for the treaty itself.''

This is the first review conference since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and amid the growing threat of nuclear terrorism.

''There is the question of international terrorism, which is of course of importance to the treaty although the treaty does not deal with that specifically, but it does deal with the proliferation of weapons including weapons that may go to a nonstate actor,'' Duarte said.

Duarte expressed hope that the committees will create a final document by the last week of the review conference.

As Japan was the only country in the world to suffer from atomic bombs that were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, there is much opposition to nuclear proliferation. Therefore, many Japanese nongovernmental organization representatives are expected to participate.

Hiroshima Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba will head a delegation of more than 100 municipal officials from around the world to attend the review conference, as well as take part in a rally for a nuclear-free world on Sunday.