Japan PM Kan and French President Sarkozy join to improve global nuclear safety

[News_Editor]

Japan PM Kan and French President Sarkozy join to improve global nuclear safety

2011-03-31 20:15:14 GMT+7 (ICT)

TOKYO (BNO NEWS) -- Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan and French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Thursday agreed to work together on setting new international nuclear safety standards, following the nuclear crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi plant.

Sarkozy, on his second visit to Japan since becoming President in 2007, became the first foreign leader to visit the country since the March 11 quake, and pledged to work alongside Kan and try to release a communique on nuclear safety during the upcoming Group of Eight (G-8) summit in late May.

This year, Sarkozy is the G-8 chair and in late May, Canada, Germany, Italy, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States will be meeting in Deauville, France, along with France and Japan.

In addition, Sarkozy stated he wanted to meet with the G-20 group in May to discuss nuclear safety and further discuss the topic in June's ministerial conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

During Thursday's joint press conference, Kan said Japan had the responsibility to share the painful experience of the nuclear disaster with the rest of the world to help make nuclear safety better, while both Kan and Sarkozy agreed that no common global regulations exist regarding nuclear safety.

France has the second highest number of nuclear plants in the world, as almost 80 percent of the country's electricity relies on nuclear power. Only the U.S. has more nuclear stations, while Japan has the third most.

Parts of northeastern Japan were devastated by an enormous 9.0-magnitude earthquake off its coast earlier this month, generating a large tsunami that struck nearby coastlines. More than 20,000 people are feared to have been killed.

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