Hiroshima Mayor to Call for Int'l Support for Olympic Bid

Hiroshima Mayor to Call for Int'l Support for Olympic Bid

Hiroshima, Nov. 5 (Jiji Press)--Hiroshima Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba
hopes to cooperate with overseas and domestic cities to realize a 2020
Olympic Games hosted by the atomic-bombed Japanese cities of Hiroshima and
Nagasaki.

"Only Hiroshima and Nakasaki can appeal for a world without nuclear
weapons and a festival of peace," Akiba said in a recent interview with Jiji
Press. "The Olympics is a good stage to send messages," he said.
The mayor said he will call for global support even before the
western Japan cities make a final decision to enter the running for the 2020
Olympics. "It will not be difficult to raise funds globally," he said
confidently.
Akiba added that Hiroshima hopes to drum up support from other
Japanese cities.
The mayor stressed the importance of adopting the proposed
Hiroshima-Nagasaki protocol at a review conference on the Nuclear
Nonproliferation Treaty, or NPT, scheduled for May 2010.
The protocol, formulated by the Mayors for Peace, which Akiba
currently chairs, is aimed at abolishing all nuclear weapons by 2020.
Akiba said he hopes to boost the number of members in the
international organization of cities that support nuclear disarmament from
about 3,000 cities globally to 5,000 by the time of the NPT review meeting.
To win the support of U.S. cities, Akiba indicated he is willing to
attend a general meeting of the United States Conference of Mayors to be
held in Washington in January.