A former Japanese foreign minister has been named to help lead a new commission intended to set the agenda for the upcoming Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty review conference in 2010, Agence France-Presse reported yesterday (see GSN, June 9).
Meeting at the Group of Eight summit this week, the prime ministers of Japan and Australia selected Yoriko Kawaguchi to co-chair the International Commission on Nuclear Nonproliferation and Disarmament.
Former Australian Foreign Minister Gareth Evans has already been named to help lead the body, which was first proposed by Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd during a June visit to Japan.
Rudd has said that the two nations could take on considerable nonproliferation responsibilities. Australia possesses the greatest known quantities of uranium and Japan has an established nuclear energy sector.
The new commission was suggested amid increasing signs that the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty regime has weakened since its entry into force in 1970. The treaty sought to limit nuclear-weapon possession to China, France, the United Kingdom, the United States and what was then the Soviet Union, but India, Israel, North Korea and Pakistan have since acquired their own atomic arsenals (Agence France-Presse/Google News, July 9).