On September 2-3, the Center for Disarmament, Science and Technology (CDAST) of the Japan Institute of International Affairs (JIIA) served as the secretariat for the Hiroshima Roundtable, held in Hiroshima and organized by Hiroshima Prefecture and the Hiroshima Organization for Global Peace (HOPe). CDAST planned the event and synthesized the discussions. The Roundtable, which aims to formulate policy recommendations for addressing nuclear risks, brought together 14 nuclear experts from 9countries, including China, France, China, the Republic of Korea, India, Russia, and the United States. Among them was Ambassador Do Hung Viet, President of the 11th NPT Review Conference. Dr. Nobumasa Akiyama, Director of CDAST, chaired the discussions.
The discussions drew on the Hiroshima Nuclear Forecast, a report based on a survey of nuclear experts around the world conducted ahead of the Roundtable. The report gathered expert assessments of the major nuclear risks of concern over the coming year, with the aim of making those risks more visible. Using the report as a starting point, participants analyzed and assessed nuclear risks. Building on the results, the Chair drafted a set of Policy Recommendations calling on the international community to take concrete action, which were released with the participants' consent. The recommendations rest on three pillars: preventing nuclear use and escalation; maintaining and strengthening the rules, norms, and institutions that prohibit attacks on civilian nuclear facilities and the resumption of nuclear testing; and preventing an unconstrained nuclear arms race.
[Read the Policy Recommendations here]
The final version of the Hiroshima Nuclear Forecast, reflecting the Roundtable's discussions, is scheduled for release in October.
Participants
Ambassador Nobuyasu Abe (Former UN Under-Secretary-General for Disarmament Affairs and former Commissioner of the Japan Atomic Energy Commission)
Ambassador Karim Haggag (Director, SIPRI)
Dr. Jacques E. C. Hymans (Professor, Hiroshima Peace Institute; Adjunct Associate Professor, University of Southern California)
Dr. Atsushi Ishida (Director, Hiroshima Peace Institute; Professor, Hiroshima City University)
Dr. Bee Yun Jo (Research Fellow, Sejong Institute)
Mr. Anton Khlopkov (Director, CENESS)
Dr. Jeffrey Lewis (Senior Research Scholar and William J. Perry Lecturer, Stanford University)
Dr. Manpreet Sethi (Distinguished Fellow, CAPS)
Dr. Hirofumi Tosaki (Associate Professor, Hiroshima University)
Ambassador Do Hung Viet (Permanent Representative of Viet Nam to the United Nations; former President of the 11th NPT Review Conference)
Dr. Tong Zhao (Senior Fellow, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace)
Dr. Nobumasa Akiyama (Director, CDAST, JIIA; Professor, Hitotsubashi University)
Mr. Timothée Albessard (Research Fellow, CDAST, JIIA)