REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- Indonesia, along with states without nuclear weapons, are working together to promote the establishment of a convention to ban the use of nuclear weapons, an official said here on Monday. 

Director General of Multilateral Affairs of Ministry of Foreign Affairs Hasan Kleib said here on Monday that Indonesia and several countries have been working together to promote an open working group to discuss and draft a nuclear weapon convention. "The countries have been gathered to promote a new initiative," Kleib said after attending a Regional Dialogue and Consultation on the Treaty of the Non-Proliferation (NPT) of Nuclear Weapon held in Jakarta on Monday along with the Minister of Foreign Affairs Retno Marsudi.

Nuclear weapon has been classified as a weapon of mass destruction, along with biological and chemical weapons. The international society has signed conventions on biological and chemical weapons. "We also want a convention on a total ban of nuclear weapon," Kleib stated.

Kleib urged the five countries, namely the United States, Britain, France, China, and Russia, which are currently possessing nuclear weapons, to meet their promise within the NPT to negotiate faithfully to remove their nuclear weapons completely.

The NPT is an international treaty, signed in July 1 1968, whose objective is to prevent the spread of nuclear weapon and weapons technology. As many as 190 countries have taken part in the treaty which has three pillars, namely non-proliferation, disarmament, and peaceful use of nuclear energy. "Indonesia has always been consistent that the implementation of the NPT's three pillars should be in balance," Marsudi noted.

The current global situation has become a challenge and has forced commitment by the NPT member countries to achieve progress by implementing the NPT's three pillars, she remarked. As many as 26 representatives from countries in the Asia-Pacific Region attended the meeting held in Jakarta on March 13 and 14.

The meeting was one of the series to prepare the first NPT Preparatory Committee, which is scheduled to be held in Vienna, Austria, from May 2 to 12, 2017. The Preparatory Committee will be the first of the three planned sessions that will be held prior to the 2020 Review Conference.

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