26 September 2013 – The Philippines and Nigeria became the newest members of the Non-Proliferation and Disarmament Initiative (NPDI).

On September 24, Foreign Ministers of the NPDI held a Ministerial Meeting at the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York in which they welcomed the Philippines and Nigeria.

Foreign Affairs Undersecretary for Policy Evan P. Garcia represented the Philippines at the meeting, and stated it was an honor for the Philippines to be invited as a member of the NPDI.

In his statement, Garcia reaffirmed the Philippines’ staunch commitment to promoting nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament.

H.E. Fumio Kishida, Foreign Minister of Japan, chaired the meeting. H.E. Julie Bishop, the new Foreign Minister of Australia, H.E. Guido Westerwelle, Foreign Minister of Germany, and H.E. Ahmet Davutoglu, Foreign Minister of Turkey, also attended the meeting.

The NPDI is a cross-regional grouping of states committed to pushing forward the nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament goals of the 2010 Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference, which was chaired by Ambassador Libran Cabactulan, Permanent Representative of the Philippines to the United Nations in New York.

The 12 members of the NPDI are Australia, Canada, Chile, Germany, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, Nigeria, Philippines, Poland, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates. 

Ministers discussed plans of the NPDI leading up to the 2014 Preparatory Committee and 2015 NPT Review Conference.  They agreed to meet again in 2014 in Hiroshima, Japan. END