Mayors Call for Nuclear Weapons Abolition at Hiroshima Meeting

Hiroshima, Oct. 20 (Jiji Press)--Mayors across the world ended a two-day meeting in the western Japan city of Hiroshima Thursday by adopting a declaration expressing their determination to abolish nuclear weapons.

The Hiroshima Appeal declaration urged governments across the world to drop nuclear deterrence in an effort to ease tensions and reduce the risk of using nuclear weapons.

It also asked more countries to ratify the Treaty of the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons to accelerate efforts to abolish nuclear arms.

"We successfully deepened ties among member cities that have been continuing efforts to realize the dream of nuclear abolition," Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui, who chairs the meeting, told a news conference.

The 10th General Conference of Mayors for Peace was joined by representatives from 102 cities in nine countries as well as online participants from other cities.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]