Japan and the United States agreed Wednesday to step up joint efforts to enhance international measures to prevent proliferation of nuclear arms and other weapons of mass destruction.
Along with the agreement, which was reached during talks Wednesday in Tokyo on nuclear nonproliferation, disarmament and arms control, the two governments have set up a bilateral commission that will meet every six months to review and implement joint goals.
The immediate priorities of the joint commission are to strengthen the global regime on nuclear nonproliferation and put the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty into force as early as possible, according to a joint statement issued after the meeting.
The commission will also work to bring about a satisfactory conclusion to the United Nations Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference, scheduled to convene next month in New York, the statement said.
The commission is jointly headed by Norio Hattori, the Foreign Ministry's director general for Arms Control and Scientific Affairs, and John Holum, senior adviser to the U.S. Secretary of State.
Speaking at a news conference, Holum said the two nations will continue to urge India and Pakistan to sign the CTBT, and that Washington will try to convince the U.S. Senate to reconsider the CTBT and ratify it.
In October, the U.S. Senate -- in a vote that went largely along party lines -- refused to ratify the global treaty to ban nuclear testing, the centerpiece of the Clinton Administration's foreign policy agenda.
The CTBT was adopted at the U.N. General Assembly in 1996 and all 44 declared and potential nuclear powers must ratify for it to come into effect.