TAKING PRACTICAL STEPS FOR ACHIEVINGA WORLD WITHOUTNUCLEAR WEAPONSIn early April of 2023, the second meeting of the International Group of Eminent Persons for a World withoutNuclear Weapons (IGEP) was held in Tokyo. Amid increasingly severe circumstances for advancing nuclear
disarmament, the IGEP aims to facilitate open and candid discussions concerning a concrete path toward therealization of a world without nuclear weapons among experts from both nuclear- and non-nuclear-weapon states,
which go beyond their respective countries’ positions.
As the global security environment becomesincreasingly severe—with the threat of the use of nuclear
weapons increasing and the division of the international
community deepening further—we are facing theharsh reality of nuclear disarmament. Yet, we musttake the path toward a world without nuclear weapons,
however difficult it may be. This is the very reason why
the Government of Japan established the International
Group of Eminent Persons for a World without Nuclear
Weapons (IGEP). The IGEP serves as an opportunity forparticipants from nuclear- and non-nuclear-weapon states
to exchange ideas and thoughts beyond their respective

national positions and engage in candid discussions
concerning a concrete path toward the realization of aworld without nuclear weapons. At the first meeting, heldin Hiroshima in December 2022, the IGEP members
analyzed the current international situation and security
environment surrounding nuclear disarmament, while
also having candid discussions regarding challenges inpromoting nuclear disarmament and priorities on thenuclear disarmament front.
From April 4 to 5, the second meeting of the IGEP
was held in Tokyo. At this meeting, frank and in-depth
discussions were held on the importance of maintaining

Prime Minister Kishida (second from the right)
receives a courtesy call by the International Group ofEminent Persons for a World without Nuclear
Weapons (IGEP) on the occasion of the second
meeting held in Tokyo in April. As a Prime Ministerfrom Hiroshima, he has been making realistic andpractical efforts to foster the momentum of theinternational community for nuclear disarmament. He
attended the 10th NPT Review Conference in August2022 as the first Japanese Prime Minister to do so.

and strengthening the Treaty on the Non-Proliferationof Nuclear Weapons (NPT) in light of the current,
extremely severe security environment and the situation
surrounding the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty(New START), with a view to making a positive
contribution to the next NPT review process, which will
start with the first Preparatory Committee for the 11th
NPT Review Conference scheduled at the end of July thisyear. “The discussion was extremely lively and substantial.
We would like to propose as many specific measures aspossible,” said SHIRAISHI Takashi, Chancellor of thePrefectural University of Kumamoto, after the meeting,which he chaired.
The members agreed that it would be meaningful tocompile a specific message to provide input to the firstPreparatory Committee. Then, on April 21, they released
the “IGEP Message,” urging states to prioritize efforts
along with the following pillars in the next NPT review
cycle: (1) reinforcing and expanding norms, including
the commitment to not using or threatening to use
nuclear weapons, (2) taking concrete measures, including
engagement in dialogue on establishing new arms control
arrangements, and (3) revitalizing/strengthening theNPT review process.
During a courtesy call by the IGEP members on theoccasion of the second IGEP meeting, Prime Minister
Kishida expressed his view that it is important to steadily
promote realistic and practical efforts, including thoserelated to the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty(CTBT) and a fissile material cut-off treaty (FMCT).

A monument of flowers to welcome the G7 Hiroshima Summit wasinstalled in Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park, which has facilities andmonuments that explain the history of the atomic bombing of 1945. In its
message released on April 21, the IGEP urged states to increase awareness ofthe horrendous consequences of nuclear weapon use, drawing upon theexperiences of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. ATSUSHI MURAKAWA/AFLO

Group photo from the first meeting of the IGEP, held in Hiroshima in
December 2022. The experts—from both nuclear-weapon states such as theUnited States, Russia, India, and China, and non-nuclear-weapon statessuch as Argentina and New Zealand—attentively listened to a testimony
given by Ms. YAHATA Teruko, who suffered the atomic bombing inHiroshima at the age of eight. The members also offered flowers to theCenotaph for the Atomic Bomb Victims and made a visit to the Hiroshima
Peace Memorial Museum. THE MAINICHI NEWSPAPERS/AFLO

He also expressed his intention to make progress inaccordance with the “Hiroshima Action Plan,” which
he proposed at the 10th NPT Review Conference lastAugust as the first step of a realistic road map for a world
without nuclear weapons, as well as other initiatives.
Circumstances for advancing nuclear disarmament
are becoming increasingly severe. As the only country
to have ever suffered atomic bombings during war, Japanhas the responsibility to take the lead in the efforts by
the international community to realize a world without
nuclear weapons. At the “Nuclear Disarmament andNon-Proliferation” session of the G7 Foreign Ministers’Meeting held in April in Karuizawa, Nagano Prefecture,
the G7 reaffirmed its commitment to the ultimate goal ofa world without nuclear weapons, and Japan’s “HiroshimaAction Plan” was received as a welcome contribution by
the G7 members. At the G7 Hiroshima Summit in May,
Japan, together with the world’s leaders, will send a strong
message from Hiroshima—which, along with Nagasaki,
was devastated by the atomic bomb—that the scourge of
nuclear weapons must never be allowed to happen again,
and will continue to take steps forward to realize a world
without nuclear weapons.