岸田首相、広島サミットで核廃絶議論　国際賢人会議が閉幕

　内外の有識者が核廃絶を議論する「国際賢人会議」の第１回会合は１１日、２日間の日程を終えて閉幕した。岸田文雄首相は広島市内のホテルで閉会式に出席。来年５月に広島市で開く先進７カ国首脳会議（Ｇ７サミット）に触れ、「『核兵器のない世界』に向けた力強いメッセージを発信できるよう議論を深めたい」と語った。
　首相は「核兵器使用の脅威が高まるなど核軍縮を巡る厳しい現実の壁に直面している」と指摘。次回の核拡散防止条約（ＮＰＴ）再検討会議に向けて、出席者には「厳しい現実を理想に近づけるための具体的な方策について、有意義な成果を達成いただきたい」と訴えた。
　会議には米国、ロシア、中国などの核兵器国と、保有を宣言しているインド、非保有国のドイツ、アルゼンチンなどから有識者が参加。この後、首相は記者団に、「橋渡し役として大きな役割を果たすことにつながる」と意義を強調した。（2022/12/11-18:55）

Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Sunday expressed hope to hold thorough debates for a world without nuclear weapons at next year's Group of Seven summit in the western Japan city of Hiroshima in May.
   "I want to deepen discussions (at the G-7 summit) so that we can release a strong message toward realizing a world free of nuclear weapons," he said at a closing ceremony for the first meeting of the International Group of Eminent Persons for a World without Nuclear Weapons, or IGEP, held in Hiroshima for two days from Saturday.
   "We are facing a tough actual barrier over nuclear disarmament, such as growing threats to use nuclear weapons," Kishida said, asking IGEP member experts to "produce meaningful outcomes regarding specific ways to bring the tough reality closer to the ideal."
   Members of the IGEP include those from the United States, China and Russia, all nuclear states, India, which has declared its possession of nuclear weapons, and Germany and Argentina, which do not possess such weapons, as well as Japan, also a nonnuclear state.
   Realizing a world without nuclear weapons is a lifework of Kishida, whose constituency is in Hiroshima. He proposed the holding of the IGEP meeting as he aimed to boost momentum for nuclear abolition in the run-up to the Hiroshima G-7 summit. The G-7 groups Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States plus the European Union.