The Mayor of Hiroshima has praised a campaign by churches in the UK calling for greater commitment to a nuclear-free world from governments.

Tadatoshi Akiba called on world leaders to demonstrate their commitment to the elimination of all nuclear weapons when they meet in New York next week for the Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference.

“There is a danger that we consider nuclear weapons to be simply an unfortunate fact of life we can do nothing about,” he said. “This would be a grave mistake. Now is the time to map out the road to global zero.”

In a letter to the British Methodist Church, Mr Akiba said that eliminating nuclear weapons from the world would be “one of humanity’s greatest achievements”.

The Methodist Church is part of an alliance of UK churches pressing governments to take steps towards a nuclear-free world by making the use or possession of nuclear weapons illegal. The ‘Now is the Time’ campaign also asks for a nuclear weapons convention that would place all bomb-grade material under international control.

“I am delighted that churches in the UK have contributed to the call for governments to commit to a world free of nuclear weapons,” said Mr Akiba. “I hope the churches in the UK will do everything in their power to mobilise their congregations to let the government know that they are ready to live in a world free of nuclear weapons.”

Steve Hucklesby, Policy Adviser for the Methodist Church in Britain, said the recent agreement signed by US President Barack Obama and Russian President Medvedev to reduce their stockpiles of nuclear warheads reflected “growing public desire to see the brakes come off multilateral disarmament negotiations”.

“We hope that the review conference will be an opportunity for our voices to be heard through the many non-governmental organisations that specialise in these matters,” he said.

The ‘Now is the Time’ alliance includes the Church of England, the Church of Scotland, the Methodist Church, the Baptist Union of Great Britain, the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), the United Reformed Church, the International Affairs Department of the Catholic Bishops Conference of England and Wales, the Catholic Bishops Conference of Scotland and the Archbishop of the Church in Wales.