U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres may visit Japan in late August to attend an international conference on African development and visit the World Exposition, diplomatic sources said Monday.
Guterres is unlikely to visit Hiroshima and Nagasaki on the 80th anniversary of the 1945 U.S. atomic bombings of the cities, the sources said, noting he plans to deliver a speech in Japan that would highlight the importance of a world free of nuclear weapons and the Asian country’s resilience after World War II.
U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres speaks to reporters in Brussels in March 2025. (AP/Kyodo)
Guterres has visited the two atomic-bombed cities as chief of the world body, a role he took up in 2017.
The sources also said Guterres may meet with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and make a trip to Kyoto, a former Japanese capital.
Japan will host the ninth round of the Tokyo International Conference on African Development from Aug. 20 to 22 in Yokohama, a port city near the Japanese capital, and the government has asked Guterres to attend.
At the World Expo venue in Osaka, Guterres may visit the U.N. pavilion with the theme “United for a Better Future” on Aug. 22, designated as a special day for the world body, and attend an event there, the sources said.
Izumi Nakamitsu, U.N. undersecretary for disarmament affairs, plans to read speeches on behalf of Guterres during annual events to commemorate the U.S. nuclear attacks in Hiroshima on Aug. 6 and in Nagasaki on Aug. 9, the sources added.
AloJapan.com