A moving and memorable experience as always. And very appropriate in this year of new and forceful momentum for nuclear disarmament on the global scene. The year of the 65th Commemoration a few weeks ago of the horrific events that took place in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
The shared ambition of Norwegians and Japanese for nuclear disarmament and the close co-operation between our two countries in international negotiations to that end were important issues touched upon in the Committee’s preceding meetings in Tokyo with Members of the Diet and high level representatives of the Ministries for Foreign Affairs and Defence of Japan.
The Norwegian Committee’s visit to the Peace Memorial Museum and meeting with a “hibakusha” in Hiroshima left a strong impression. The Committee Chair, Ms Ine Marie Eriksen Søreide, laid a wreath and left a bottle of water brought from Norway at the Peace Memorial in respect of the many victims of the atomic bomb. The Committee met with Governor of Hiroshima Prefecture Hidehiko Yusaki, who presented the idea of Hiroshima as a “Peace Centre of the World”. The Norwegian parliamentarians were also impressed by the “Mayors for Peace” movement led by Hiroshima’s Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba, an active network of mayors of 4 000 cities in 150 countries and regions around the world.
One and a half month earlier, on 6 August, I had the honour to participate in the 65th Commemoration in Hiroshima and convey a message of support from the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Norway, Mr. Jonas Gahr Støre, to the 8 000 peace activists attending the 2010 World Conference Against Atomic and Hydrogen Weapons. The Commemoration in Hiroshima on 6 August was historic in that it was the first time it was attended by a Secretary General of the United Nations and by the Ambassador of the United States to Japan.
In his message, the Norwegian Foreign Minister underscored that a world free of nuclear weapons is a longstanding aim of Norway’s foreign policy and praised Japan’s role in efforts to achieve nuclear disarmament. He added his belief that we are now at a turning point. Former and present leaders of several countries have called for a renewed commitment to nuclear disarmament. The goal of a world free of nuclear weapons has entered the general political vocabulary.
Foreign Minister Støre also referred to the importance of the Review Conference of the Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) in May and the new START (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty) signed by Presidents Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev in April. We see the new START as the start of a broader disarmament process, which will include all types of nuclear arms, and which in the end will lead to a world without nuclear weapons.
Last year, the Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded President Obama the Nobel Peace Prize, citing among other things his vision and efforts for a world without nuclear weapons. In November, Hiroshima will again appear as a banner bearer for nuclear disarmament, when former Nobel Peace Prize Laureates gather for their annual meeting, this time in Japan.
In Nagasaki, the other banner city for nuclear disarmament, the Embassy’s former Cultural Counsellor, Ms Wenche Prebensen, took part in the 65th Commemoration ceremonies on 9 August. I am myself looking forward to visiting Nagasaki again mid October to take part in the launch of the All-Kyushu Norway-Japan Friendship Society. It unites the Friendship Societies of Fukuoka, Kagoshima, Nagasaki and Saga.
Norway and Japan are, indeed, like-minded nations. We are in the forefront of international efforts for nuclear disarmament, not least in the United Nations, where Norway co-sponsors
every year Japan’s proposal to eliminate the world’s nuclear weapons. And we Norwegians are proud, indeed, of our ties with Hiroshima and Nagasaki. They are banner cities for nuclear disarmament in the eyes of Norwegians and peace-loving people all over the world.
Arne Walther
October 2010