UN conference on disarmament to discuss on nuke-free world

United Nations Conference on Disarmament, which will begin in the Japanese City of Niigata later this week, will discuss the issue of how to achieve the goal of a nuclear-free world, UN officials said.

Strengthening the nuclear non-proliferation regime with a focus on the forthcoming 2010 Review Conference of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) is also high on the Conference's agenda, officials said.

The three-day conference beginning on August 26, is being hosted by Japanese government and the City of Niigata, and is being organised by the UN Office for Disarmament Affairs through its Regional Centre for Peace and Disarmament in Asia and the Pacific.

 

Regional security issues in relation to nuclear proliferation will also be discussed, officials said.

Furthermore, the Conference would address challenges in the field of conventional weapons, and peace and disarmament education, as well as the important role of civil society in addressing these challenges.

This annual conference, which has been hosted by Japan since 1989, is recognised as an important forum for frank dialogue and exchange of views on pressing security and disarmament-related issues facing the international community.

It would also address the particular disarmament and non-proliferation concerns of countries in the Asia-Pacific region.