Austrian prime minister expresses support for starting negotiations on total ban of nuclear weapons

   The Japan Council against A and H Bombs (Japan Gensuikyo) has recently received replies from the Austrian prime minister and the Saudi Arabian ambassador to Japan to the “Letter to Governments from Nagasaki” adopted at the 2007 World Conference against A and H Bombs that called on governments in the world to start negotiations on a treaty totally banning nuclear weapons.

   Austrian Prime Minister Alfred Gusenbauer stated, “Austria, as a longstanding advocate for global nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation in all relevant international for a, fully shares your organization’s goal of a world free of nuclear weapons.”

   As the co-chair of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) Conference, he expresses willingness to speed up the enforcement of the CTBT.

   Saudi Arabian Ambassador to Japan Faisal Hassan Trad offered encouragement, stating, “I have the pleasure to take this opportunity to express to you our appreciation for the fruitful efforts you have been exerting in support to the international guidelines to enforce a ban against this kind of destructive weapon and the comprehension abolition of such dangerous weapons.”

   He expressed his “strong desire to discard violence and establish a just and permanent international peace” and stated, “The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is always exerting its best efforts in the international arena where it stands firm against the usage and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear, atomic and hydrogen weapons.”

   Japan Gensuikyo also received replies from Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, Mexican Foreign Minister Patricia Espinosa, and other government officials as reported in the JPS Weekly No. 2554 published on December 15, 2007.
- Akahata, February 6, 2008