Fiji, May 26 -- The Solomon Islands has renewed the Pacific's opposition to nuclear weapons and nuclear testing, recalling the devastation caused by decades of testing in the region during the latest Review Conference of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) at the United Nations.

Speaking on behalf of Parties to the South Pacific Nuclear-Free Zone Treaty, also known as the Treaty of Rarotonga, the Solomon Islands delegate described the establishment of the treaty 40 years ago as a defining moment for the Pacific.

She recalled "a profound moment" when the zone "was born out of devastation of decades of nuclear testing across our blue Pacific", and a "collective conviction that the bounty and the beauty of Pacific land and sea must ...