A new commission aimed at setting an agenda for the 2010 Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty review conference plans to address a pending U.S.-Indian civilian nuclear deal as well as moves toward worldwide nuclear disarmament when it holds its first meeting next month, Agence France-Presse reported Aug. 25 (see GSN, July 10).
Former Japanese and Australian foreign ministers Yoriko Kawaguchi and Gareth Evans have been selected to chair the International Commission on Nuclear Nonproliferation and Disarmament, a group first proposed by Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd during a June visit to Japan.
"It is extremely important for Japan, the only victim of nuclear attacks, to aim to build a world without nuclear weapons," Kawaguchi told reporters after meeting with Evans and Yasuo Fukuda, Japan's prime minister (Agence France-Presse I/Energy Daily, Aug. 25).
Japan and Australia plan to propose a resolution to the U.N. General Assembly later this month calling on all nuclear-weapon powers to reduce their arsenals.
The resolution would be intended to pressure China to scale back its nuclear stockpile in moves similar to those already taken by France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States, the Japanese Nikkei Business Daily reported (Agence France-Presse II/AsiaOne, Aug. 24).
Evans discussed the U.S.-Indian agreement, which would make U.S. nuclear fuel and technology available to India in exchange for opening India's civilian nuclear facilities to international scrutiny, Kyodo News reported (see related GSN story, today).
"The good news is that [the U.S.-Indian deal] shows one way forward of introducing some discipline on a country that has not previously been subjected to any formal disciplines other than self discipline on these issues," Evans said. "The less good news is that the discipline is not quite as strong as we would like when it comes to testing, when it comes to fissile material production and other key issues.
"We're all going to have to work harder if we really do want a global regime that is very strong, that picks up all the best of the [Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty] and makes it even stronger and applicable universally," he said.
The officials did not specify the location of the upcoming meeting or who would be appointed to the commission (Kyodo News, Aug. 25). The group could include as many as 16 members (AFP I).