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Prime Minister Abe visited the Netherlands to attends the Nuclear Security Summit in the Hague (23-25 March)
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On 24 and 25 March, the 3rd Nuclear Security Summit was held in the Hague, and the representatives of 53 countries and 4 international organizations gathered at the World Forum to discuss the enhancement of nuclear security. Nuclear security means measures to prevent abuse of nuclear material etc. by the terrorists. Neclear Security Summit was first held in April 2010 in Washington DC, the U.S.A., then in March 2012 in Seoul, Repuiblic of Korea, and this is the third time. Prime Minister Abe visited the Netherlands to attend the Nuclear Security Summit. In his statement during the plenary session, Prime Minister Abe stated that Japan will continue to do its best to enhance nuclear security, and that Japan has a responsibility to lead the global efforts on enhancing nuclear security. As tangible achievements and further commitments, he articulated the minimization and appropriate management of nuclear material, strengthening of domestic nuclear security and the enhancement of our international contribution. As the result of the Summit, the Hague Nuclear Security Summit Communique was issued, in which the role of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) was further emphasized, as well as the role of the United Nations, the concrete examples of voluntary measures for confidence building were enlisted, and the responsibility of nuclear operators and the support for a more intensive dialogue between the operators and the regulators were mentioned. The next Nuclear Security Summit is scheduled to be held in 2016 in the U.S.A. Further, Prime Minister Abe took this opportunity to attend G7 Summit Meeting, Japan-US-ROK Trilateral Summit Meeting and bilateral meetings with other countries. In the evening of 23 March, he attended Japan-Netherlands Summit Meeting with Prime Minister Rutte at Catshuis, in which frank opinions were exchanged on bilateral and international issues to further promote and strengthen our bilateral relations. In the afternoon of 23 March, Prime Minister Abe visited Anne Frank House as the first incumbent Prime Minister to visit the House. In his talk with Mr. Ronald Leopold, Executive Director of Anne Frank House, Prime Minister Abe stated that “the 20th century was an era in which there were repeated wars and repression of human rights but the world should be free from such phenomena in the 21st century. We would like to achieve peace by acknowledging historical issues in an open manner and passing down the lessons learned from history to the future generations.” He also mentioned that the incident of tearing of the diary was deeply regrettable and he wished it would never happen again. In the afternoon of 25 March, Prime Minister Abe visited Greenport in Westland, which was established by the Dutch government as an integrated area for horticulture, to acquire inspiration for the “aggressive agriculture”advocated by his Cabinet. The Dutch Minister for Agriculture, Ms. Dijksma, welcomed the Prime Minister and stated that the Netherlands is the world’s second largest exporter of agricultural products after the U.S.A., with advanced industry-academic-government cooperation, and that there is a potentiality of Japan-Netherlands cooperation in the field of horticulture. ○The web-site of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan
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