Mr. Tomihisa Taue, Mayor of Nagasaki City,
Honorable Hodo Nakamura, Governor of Nagasaki Prefecture,
Mr. Takashi Yoshihara, Chairman of Nagasaki City Council,
Mr. Mitsunori Sueyoshi, Chairman of Nagasaki Prefectural Assembly,
Distinguished guests,
Dear citizens of Nagasaki,
Ladies and gentlemen,

Minasan Konnichiwa.

On this location, sixty-five summers ago, a single plane dropped a single bomb.

It left this beautiful city of Nagasaki in ruins.

It took the lives of tens of thousands of men, women and children.

I have come today to pay my respects to their memory.

Watakushiwa sekai heiwa no tameni mairimashita.

I have come to honour the hibakusha for the extraordinary hardships they have had to endure.

The devastation was shocking. Their courage of fortitude was extraordinary.

And I have come to stand in solidarity with the citizens of Nagasaki.

Together with the people of Hiroshima, you have created a dynamic partnership for global nuclear disarmament.

This historic site does far more than mark the geographic centre — the bomb’s impact.

I’m standing before this hypocenter with indescribably heavy mind.

This is a monument to the conviction that we must never allow such devastation to be inflicted on any population, anywhere, ever again.

As Secretary-General of the United Nations, I have offered a five-point proposal on nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament.

It includes recommendations on security, verification, transparency, conventional weapons and the legal framework for nuclear disarmament.

I am deeply grateful to the authorities of Nagasaki City and citizens of Nagasaki, mayors and governors for their strong support.

Their global Mayors for Peace movement now has the support of more than 4,000 mayors worldwide.

Their efforts to gain the support of over 5,000 mayors would represent a combined population of more than one billion people by the end of this year.

Such activism is one of the best possible ways to respond to the tragedies of these nuclear bombs.

The only way to ensure that such weapons will never again be used is to eliminate them all.

Let us work together to realize the world free of nuclear weapons.

With such a strong commitment and conviction that we can achieve the world free of nuclear weapons, on behalf of the peoples of the United Nations I am honoured to lay this wreath.

Domo arigato gozaimashita.