Support for Protocol growing in Belgium, Germany and Luxembourg
December 1, 2008
Between November 8th and November 14th 2008 Dr. Tadatoshi Akiba, the Mayor of Hiroshima and the President of Mayors for Peace, was in Europe for the promotion of the Hiroshima-Nagasaki Protocol. Events for member cities were organized in Luxembourg, Belgium and Germany, countries with very high membership totaling 690 member cities (December 1st). There were also high-level meetings such as with Mr. Yves Leterme, Belgian Prime Minister, and Mr. Walter Momper, President of the Berlin Regional Parliament.
Belgian Prime Minister Yves Leterme expressed his support for the proposed Hiroshima-Nagasaki Protocol during a meeting with Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba, November 11th 2008
After Luxembourg, the Mayor of Hiroshima was welcomed at the City Hall of Bastogne, a small city in the south of Belgium which was at the centre of the Battle of the Ardennes (1944). Mr. Philippe Collard, the Mayor of Bastogne, announced the opening of a new regional office of Mayors for Peace for Wallonia, the French speaking region in Belgium. During the short Academic Session the Mayor announced that he wanted to develop cross-party initiatives to double membership in Wallonia up to 60% and mobilize cities in support of the Hiroshima-Nagasaki Protocol. The entire Executive Council of Bastogne signed the Cities Appeal.
On November 10th 2008 Executive Cities from 11 countries got down to business with a Board of Directors and General Meeting in Ypres City Hall, laying down concrete targets for the advancement of the 2020 Vision Campaign nationally and internationally. Among the matters discussed was a meeting with United States President-elect Obama and an exciting proposal for a Hiroshima and Nagasaki bid to host the 2020 Olympic Games. The prospect of opening the 2020 Olympics in a nuclear-weapons-free world received the support of all delegates present.
On November 11th Mayor Akiba started the day with a meeting with Belgian Prime Minister Yves Leterme. Mr. Yves Leterme, also a City Council member of Ypres, expressed his personal support for the proposed Hiroshima-Nagasaki Protocol. He stated to seek support of the Belgian government to endorse the Protocol at the next NPT Review Conference in New York in 2010. After this encouraging meeting all delegates participated in an international press conference and the 90th anniversary commemorations of the end of World War I in the Flemish City of Ypres, which is sometimes referred to the Hiroshima of World War I.
On November 12th Mayor Akiba and his colleagues from North-Olmsted (US) and Volgograd (Russia) started the day with a break-fast meeting with Daniel Termont, the Mayor of Ghent, one of the Belgium's largest cities which inaugurated a 80-hectare Peace Forest. After an Academic Conference in Brussels City Hall the Mayor of Hiroshima had a personal meeting with Mr. Freddy Thielemans, the Mayor of Brussels. Mayor Thielemans and Mayor Akiba opened the first Belgian national meeting of Mayors for Peace where plans were discussed for further development of the organisation and a resolution was adopted asking the Belgian government to support the Hiroshima-Nagasaki Protocol. Today the Belgian House of Representatives and the Senate are also preparing a resolution to underline the importance of the Protocol to achieve complete nuclear disarmament by 2020.
On November 13th Mayor Akiba traveled to the German capital Berlin to inform members of the German Parliament about the Protocol. There were also meetings with members of the Berlin regional parliament and the tour ended with a successful national meeting of German Mayors for Peace in the Berlin regional Parliament. Here both Mayor Akiba and Mr. Stephan Weil, the Mayor of Hanover and Vice-President of Mayors for Peace, encouraged all German cities to make financial contributions to the 2020 Vision campaign.
The promotion tour was also used to recruit new members. On December 1st Belgium counts 323 members (on total of 589) and Luxembourg 54. In both countries over half of all Mayors have now joined Mayors for Peace.
