U.N. disarmament conference opens in Niigata+

NIIGATA, Japan, Aug. 26 Kyodo - Participants called for taking major steps toward creating a world without nuclear weapons as a U.N. disarmament conference opened in the Japanese city of Niigata on Wednesday.

The 21st U.N. Conference on Disarmament Issues is being attended by about 90
people from 21 countries, including government officials and researchers, who
organizers say are debating ways to ''translate visions of a
nuclear-weapon-free world into concrete actions.''
Hannelore Hoppe, director and deputy to the U.N. High Representative for
Disarmament Affairs, and Katsuhito Asano, deputy chief Cabinet secretary of the
Japanese government, were among participants who delivered speeches in the
opening session.
Former Japanese Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi, a co-chair of the
International Commission on Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament, said
mutual trust among nuclear states is important to advance nuclear disarmament.
''It is necessary to foster mutual trust among nuclear-armed states, create
international rules and hold discussions by taking into account security
situations in each regional block'' in order to realize concrete actions toward
a nuclear-free world, Kawaguchi said during an opening-day debate.
The annual conference in Japan is organized by the U.N. Office for Disarmament
Affairs through its Regional Centre for Peace and Disarmament in Asia and the
Pacific.
==Kyodo