Message for Belgian Mayoral Delegation on Meeting with the Foreign Ministry

April 19, 2005

Honorable fellow mayors, Ms. Anne-Marie Lizin of Huy, Mr. Frank Beke of Ghent, Mr. Freddy Thielemans and Deputy Mayor Mr. Bruno De Lille of Brussels, Ms. Ingrid Pira of Mortsel, Mr. Jean-Luc Dehaene of Vilvoorde, Mr. Luc Dehaene of Ypres and Senator Patrik Vankrunkelsven of Laakdal; NGOs coordinated by Mr. Pol D’Huyvetter, Abolition 2000 Belgium, Professor Pierre Pierart and Professor Henri Firket of IPPNW, and Mr. Peter Craeyeveld of VOS. Ladies and Gentleman.

Let me extend my heartfelt gratitude to all of you who have contributed so much to significantly increasing Belgian membership in Mayors for Peace. I also take this opportunity to thank you for your warm hospitality during my visit to Belgium in January. Today, I am honored to announce that membership in Belgium has reached to 184 mayors and our total membership has risen to 942.

Mayors for Peace in Belgium has set a high standard for the rest of the world to emulate. I believe you now have more Mayors for Peace members than any other country. I heard some more cities decided to join, and we are waiting for the official applications from them. You worked so hard to recruit Mayors for Peace prior to my visit to Belgium in January, and you responded conscientiously to my call to increase membership to 1000 by May. Thanks to your efforts, we have very nearly reached the goal. Only a year ago on April 21, 2004, our total membership was 580. Of the 362 mayor who have joined since then, Belgian members are more than one-third. I deeply appreciate your tremendous efforts.

Belgium and Hiroshima share a common history of wartime atrocity caused by unprecedented weapons of mass destruction. On this coming April 22nd, Ypres will commemorate the 90th anniversary of the first use of chemical weapons during the WWI in 1915. I believe the Belgian people also share the message from the victims: “No one else should suffer the way we did”. Now, I hear that we are welcoming Brussels, the capital of the European Union, as a Mayors for Peace member. This is a profoundly meaningful development in our effort to convey our message to all of Europe.

With the tremendous Belgian contribution, Mayors for Peace has gained significant momentum leading up to the NPT Review Conference in May.

Thank you again for your sincere effort and brilliant success. Let us continue to work together to achieve our goal of realizing a peaceful nuclear-free world by the year 2020.
Sincerely,

Tadatoshi Akiba
Mayor of Hiroshima
President, Mayors for Peace