「核なき世界」長崎で議論　国際賢人会議が開幕

　「核なき世界」の実現に向けて国内外の有識者が議論する国際賢人会議（座長＝白石隆・熊本県立大理事長）の第３回会合が８日、長崎市で開幕した。ロシアのウクライナ侵攻やパレスチナ自治区ガザでの戦闘が続く中、２０２６年の核拡散防止条約（ＮＰＴ）再検討会議に向けて核軍縮・廃絶への課題を議論した。
　会議は９日までの２日間で、被爆地・長崎で初めて開催。会議を提唱した岸田文雄首相は８日の開会式にメッセージを寄せ、「世界は冷戦の最盛期以来初めて核兵器数の減少傾向が逆転しかねない瀬戸際に立っている」と危機感を表明。「『核兵器のない世界』に向けた具体的道筋を示してほしい」と呼び掛けた。（2023/12/08-18:08）

Experts in and outside Japan kicked off their discussions on challenges toward nuclear disarmament and abolition in Nagasaki on Friday ahead of the 2026 Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty review meeting.
   Takashi Shiraishi, chancellor of the Prefectural University of Kumamoto, chairs the two-day third meeting of the International Group of Eminent Persons for a World without Nuclear Weapons.
   The group members gathered in the atomic-bombed Japanese city for their conference for the first time.
   In a message to the opening ceremony, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who proposed the eminent persons' conference, called on the participants to show "a concrete path toward a world without nuclear weapons."
   "The world is on the brink of the first reversal of the declining trend in the number of nuclear weapons since the height of the Cold War," he noted against the backdrop of Russia's invasion of Ukraine and Israel's war in the Gaza Strip.