The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Justin Tkatckenko has given his assurance that talks with the Japanese Government and Leaders of the Pacific Islands Forum are still ongoing with regard to Japan's plans to release 1 million tonnes of nuclear waste into the Pacific Ocean. The Minister responded by stating that last year, during the APEC summit in Thailand, he had met with the Foreign Affairs Minister of Japan, Yoshimasa Hayasi, in which he raised the question of the disposal of the Nuclear waste. According to Minister Tkackenko, Minister Hayashi guaranteed that the water was treated and would not be harmful to the environment and is consumable. “He said that he would ensure that there was no radioactivity in the water,” Tkatchenko stated This was his response to questions tabled by the Member for Kundiawa-Gembogl, Mugawa Dilu who raised concerns about the potential environment impact that could potentially cause huge damage to the marine ecosystems that are present in the western pacific. Dilu stated that this would be a direct violation of the London Convention of 1972 which was formed to control all sources of marine pollution and prevent pollution of the sea through regulation of dumping into the sea of waste materials. “My question to the Foreign Affairs minister is that is he progressing any bilateral talks with the authorities in Japan, so that they can stop this irresponsible behavior that they propose to undertake?” Dilu futher added that this a violation of the international convention in 1972 and that the London convention for international actors not to dispose Nuclear waste into the ocean. Dilu went to say the Pacific Ocean, especially the Western Pacific is host to about one third of the Worlds Tuna stock and the country plays host to a lot of marine biodiversity that has a lot of value when it comes to blue-ocean and blue carbon trade. He mentioned that the fisheries industry contributes more than a billion kina into government coffers. He quizzed the Foreign affairs Minister about initiating bilateral talks to address the issue. According to the BBC’s report on the topic Japan says it will release more than a million tonnes of water into the sea from the destroyed Fukushima nuclear power plant this year. After treatment the levels of most radioactive particles meet the national standard.