A multinational group of experts Monday released a proposal for urgent action to prevent a nuclear war, ahead of next year's review conference for the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

The International Group of Eminent Persons for a World without Nuclear Weapons (IGEP), which discussed ways to realize a world free of nuclear weapons at its latest meeting in Tokyo over two days from Sunday, said that the world has a responsibility to make the southwestern city of Nagasaki the last place to suffer nuclear bombing.

"The use of nuclear weapons could have destructive consequences," group chair Takashi Shiraishi, honorable emeritus professor at the Prefectural University of Kumamoto, told a news conference after the meeting.

The proposal warned that dangers linked to nuclear weapons are at their highest in decades and that the risk of conventional warfare leading to the use of nuclear weapons is becoming serious.

It clearly set out five principles for avoiding nuclear war — not making changes to the status quo of countries' territories; always abiding by international law; recognizing the special responsibly held by nuclear powers; supporting multilateralism; and reducing nuclear dependence.

It also included concrete measures, such as maintaining a ban on nuclear tests and suspending the production of materials for nuclear weapons.

Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, who met with the group at the Prime Minister's Office, said that it is important to maintain a "world without nuclear war," or prevent the use of any nuclear weapons, while continuing to aim for a "world without nuclear weapons."