Education, Sport, Arts and Culture minister David Coltart was on Sunday elected co-president of Parliamentarians for Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament (PNND) at the Kursaal Convention Centre in Bern, Switzerland.
PNND is a global network of over 700 parliamentarians from more than 75 countries working to prevent nuclear proliferation.
Membership is open to current members of legislatures and parliaments at state, federal, national and regional levels.
In accepting his new role, Coltart said the huge sums of money spent in the fight for nuclear weapon disarmament could be used for the development of society.
“Aside from the huge threat they pose to humanity, approximately $100 billion is spent a year on nuclear weapons, imagine if that was rather spent on education, I believe that the world would in fact become a much safer place if the world’s funding priorities changed,” said Coltart.
While acknowledging the huge task ahead of him in convincing countries like the United States, Russia and China, leaders in the manufacture of nuclear weapons, Coltart said it was still achievable.
“This may seem an impossible dream but we must work towards a nuclear weapon-free world. It is a very tough goal, but there are good people including many from those nations who want to see an end to nuclear weapons,” he added.
In the three-day assembly which ends on Tuesday, the legislators will discuss ways to leverage their roles in the collaborative work to build the framework for a nuclear weapon-free world.
