U.N. Disarmament Conference to Be Held in JapanThe United Nations is expected to hold a disarmament conference in Akita, Japan, on August 22-25 to discuss how the world body can promote disarmament in the new century, U.N. officials said here Wednesday.The theme of the upcoming conference is "Disarmament and the United Nations in the 21st Century," the officials said. To promote peace, stability and prosperity in the Asia and Pacific region at the dawn of the new millennium, the Akita conference will provide the Asia-Pacific community with an opportunity to hold a dialogue on key issues in the field of security and disarmament. The issues to be discussed will cover strategies for peace and security in Asia and the Pacific, the role of the United Nations in the region, the regional approach to disarmament and peace, the Korean Peninsula, the 2000 Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference's results and follow-up, including its impact on the Conference on Disarmament, the role of the nuclear weapon states, the nuclear disarmament process between two nuke powers -- the United States and Russia, and the peaceful use of nuclear energy. The conference will also examine conventional weapons, the officials said. The conference is organized by the United Nations Department for Disarmament Affairs through its Regional Center for Peace and Disarmament in Asia and the Pacific, located in Nepal's capital of Kathmandu, in close cooperation with the Japanese government. Some 70 participants from governments, academic and research institutes, non-government organizations (NGOs), elected representatives and the media will attend the conference in their personal capacity. Participants are mainly from the Asia-Pacific region. |
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