Dion visits Hiroshima with G7 ministers, pledging renewed anti-nuclear effort
Canada will focus on controlling the spread of material that could be used by terrorists to create nuclear weapons as its contribution to the world’s “stalled” disarmament efforts, Foreign Affairs Minister Stephane Dion says.
Dion said Canada views the creation of a Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty, or FMCT, as the most practical option the country can pursue in a renewed push towards nuclear disarmament.
Dion joined his G7 counterparts on Monday in calling for a renewed effort towards nuclear disarmament after visiting the atomic-bombed Japanese city of Hiroshima.
“It’s a challenge because over the last 20 years, it’s stalled,” Dion said in an interview from Tokyo, adding that there’s been “no major progress” on ridding the world of nuclear weapons in that time.
Dion said the road to that goal will be long, but steps will have to be taken.
“What I think we should do, very strongly, is focus on the Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty,” he said. “It’s the one that is the least difficult to reach.
“I’m not saying it’s easy.”
It has been more than half a century since the United Nations embarked on creating a treaty, the FMCT, to control the spread of nuclear materials.
Canada picked up the ball on the treaty in 2012, sponsoring a resolution at the UN General Assembly establishing a commission of experts to push for its creation.
Dion and his fellow ministers joined U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, who is the highest-ranking U.S. official to visit Hiroshima since the Second World War, when the U.S. dropped the first atomic bomb there, eventually killing 140,000 people.
Their communique condemned the recent terror attacks in Belgium, Turkey, Nigeria, Pakistan and Ivory Coast.
They also condemned North Korea’s recent nuclear tests and missile launches.
Dion visits Hiroshima with G7 ministers, pledging renewed anti-nuclear effort - The Globe and Mail
Canada will focus on controlling the spread of material that could be used by terrorists to create nuclear weapons as its contribution to the world’s “stalled” disarmament efforts, Foreign Affairs Minister Stephane Dion says.
Dion said Canada views the creation of a Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty, or FMCT, as the most practical option the country can pursue in a renewed push towards nuclear disarmament.
Dion joined his G7 counterparts on Monday in calling for a renewed effort towards nuclear disarmament after visiting the atomic-bombed Japanese city of Hiroshima.
“It’s a challenge because over the last 20 years, it’s stalled,” Dion said in an interview from Tokyo, adding that there’s been “no major progress” on ridding the world of nuclear weapons in that time.
Dion said the road to that goal will be long, but steps will have to be taken.
“What I think we should do, very strongly, is focus on the Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty,” he said. “It’s the one that is the least difficult to reach.
“I’m not saying it’s easy.”
It has been more than half a century since the United Nations embarked on creating a treaty, the FMCT, to control the spread of nuclear materials.
Canada picked up the ball on the treaty in 2012, sponsoring a resolution at the UN General Assembly establishing a commission of experts to push for its creation.
Dion and his fellow ministers joined U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, who is the highest-ranking U.S. official to visit Hiroshima since the Second World War, when the U.S. dropped the first atomic bomb there, eventually killing 140,000 people.
Their communique condemned the recent terror attacks in Belgium, Turkey, Nigeria, Pakistan and Ivory Coast.
They also condemned North Korea’s recent nuclear tests and missile launches.
Dion visits Hiroshima with G7 ministers, pledging renewed anti-nuclear effort - The Globe and Mail
