“UNGA80: Prime Minister meets ICAN Executive Director.”
GOVERNMENT OF TONGA
MEDIA RELEASE(26th September, 2025
23 September 2025, New York: Tonga’s Prime Minister, Hon Dr ‘Aisake Valu Eke had a bilateral meeting with the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), a 2017 Nobel Peace Laureate, on the sidelines of the 80th United Nations General Assembly High-level Week.
The Prime Minister and members of Cabinet met the Executive Director of the ICAN, Melissa Parke, a former Australian International Development Minister and Member of Parliament, to discuss Tonga’s support for the United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW).
The TPNW is the first globally-applicable treaty to prohibit nuclear weapons comprehensively, to establish a framework for achieving their verifiable elimination, and to assist victims of nuclear use and testing. To date, 94 states have signed the TPNW and 73 have ratified or acceded to it, including 11 of the Pacific Island states: the Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru, New Zealand, Niue, Palau, Samoa, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.
The Prime Minister thanked ICAN for their leadership in the fight to ban nuclear weapons, recognizing the inclusive non-state actors partnership between NGOs, corporate entities and the private sector to amplify the voice and advocate voice of those who cannot speak for themselves, particularly small islands developing states.
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