Ladies and gentlemen,

Minasan konnichiwa.

It is a great honour for me to visit this historic site

It has been a profoundly moving day for me.

I have come to Japan to commemorate the terrible events of 1945 in Hiroshima and Nagasaki ? and to join my voice with all those who say this can never happen again.

More than 75,000 people died instantly here in Nagasaki. A similar number perished in Hiroshima.

Many more died from injuries and radiation poisoning. People are still dying today.

I was privileged today to be joined by Mr. Sumiteru Taniguchi.

My meeting with the hibakusha was very humbling.

Their injuries were shocking. Their fortitude has been unimaginable.

Their devotion to using their experiences to promote peace and disarmament is inspiring and humbling.

I salute Mr. Taniguchi and all the hibakusha for the lessons they are taking to the world.

I am also grateful to the Archbishop of Nagasaki, the Most Reverend Joseph Mitsuaki Takami, for showing me the head of the damaged statue of St. Mary. I am also grateful to Mayor Tomihisa Taue of Nagasaki for his commitment and inspiring leadership on nuclear disarmament.

At United Nations Headquarters in New York, we have our own monument to the devastation, graciously donated by the people of Nagasaki.

Having survived the intense heat and radiation of the nuclear explosion, the damaged statue of St. Agnes is seen by over 400,000 visitors each year

It is one of our most precious works of art –a reminder of our solemn responsibility to work for a world free of nuclear weapons.

The moving sight of this reconstructed cathedral has only further strengthened my determination to seek the elimination of all nuclear weapons.

We can only achieve this through political will –and the sustained efforts of citizens everywhere to tell their governments: “no more”.

I commend the Government and people of Japan for their determined efforts on behalf of nuclear disarmament over the decades.

In the General Assembly and at the review conferences of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, Japan has long supported concrete, practical measures aimed at achieving a world free of nuclear weapons.

My visit here has strengthened my conviction that these weapons must be outlawed, either by a nuclear weapons convention or by a framework of separate mutually-reinforcing instruments.

I urge all nations to support my five-point action plan for nuclear disarmament and to agree to negotiate a nuclear weapons convention at the earliest possible date.

There must be no place in our world for such indiscriminate weapons.

In closing, I wish to thank Archbishop Takami of Nagasaki and Mayor Taue for their invitation and enabling this most moving visit.

Arigato gozaimasu.

Q: During your first visit to Nagasaki you witnessed the aftermath of the A-bombing through photographs of badly burned A-bomb victims and authentic voices from the survivors. Could you please tell us honestly how you felt about them?

SG: I have heard and I have read of the devastation and impact of nuclear weapons. But having seen all these pictures and historical evidence, I was not able to describe how my feeling was. I am here standing with a very heavy heart. It would be almost unimaginable for us to fathom how much difficulty and suffering they have had, these hibakusha.

I saw them at first glance, looking healthy, but having seen the pictures of their wounds, I was crying myself. It is just unacceptable, the wounds they had been inflicted [with]. That is why we have to work harder and harder to eliminate all nuclear weapons from the Earth. That is the commitment, and it is encouraging that these days the world leaders, particularly leaders of nuclear-weapon states, have taken some initiatives and we have made some progress starting from the nuclear summit in the Security Council and Nuclear Security Summit in Washington DC in April this year. And the nuclear NPT review conference in New York last May was also a success. They have highlighted the high, but practical and realistic, benchmark to address, to promote, nuclear disarmament. As Secretary-General, I have laid out my five-point plan, and I am encouraged that this five-point plan is being supported by the international community. I am committed and my visit to Nagasaki has further strengthened my resolve and my determination to work hard to realize a world free of nuclear weapons.

Q: People from the area bombed with atomic weapons are strongly opposed to the Japanese Government's decision to start negotiations on a nuclear agreement with a non-NPT country, India. Some experts and A-bomb survivors point out inconsistency and lack of persuasiveness of the Japanese Government for appealing [for the] abolition of nuclear weapons while being protected by the US nuclear umbrella. How do you evaluate the decision of the Japanese Government which is the only nation in the world to be bombed with atomic weapons?

SG: This agreement between [Japan] and India was a bilateral one. We hope to achieve the universality of the NPT Treaty. There are unfortunately several countries who are staying outside this system. At the same time, these bilateral arrangements to promote nuclear energy should ensure complete safeguard agreements, so that there will be no transfer of technology or no proliferation of nuclear technology or materials to other rogue states or terrorists. I understand that two Governments have made it, ensured, and those countries who are now staying outside the NPT in fact they are the members of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and they have a safeguard agreement with the IAEA. Therefore, my message is that while we strive to realize the full and universal membership of the NPT, at the same time we have to ensure, until such time, that there should be a strengthened safeguard agreement and also an additional protocol by the IAEA.

Q: What kind of a concrete approach is necessary in order to conclude a treaty that bans the use of nuclear weapons?

SG: As first the practical way to reach such a nuclear weapons convention –I think that we have to take certain preparatory groundwork. Now, as a part of decision and request at the NPT review conference last May, I'm going to convene a high-level meeting [in support of] the Conference on Disarmament on September 24 in New York. This will be the first time that the Conference on Disarmament is meeting outside Geneva at the United Nations Headquarters at high level –ministerial and above. I expect that some summit-level delegations will also participate. Through this, we hope that we carry this nuclear agenda forward. We will have to continue to discuss other related matters to realize a complete and general nuclear disarmament.

Thank you.

(Q and A to follow)