Nobuyasu Abe served as UN Under-Secretary-General for Disarmament Affairs(2003-06) and as a Commissioner of the Japan Atomic Energy Commission (2014-17). He is a former Japanese diplomat with ambassadorial assignments in Vienna for the IAEA and other International Organizations (1999-), Riyadh (2001-) and Bern (2006-). At home he was Director-General for Arms Control and Science Affairs, Japanese Foreign Ministry (1997-99). He served as a member of the advisory board to the International Commission on Nuclear Nonproliferation and Disarmament (ICNND, 2008-09) and Director for the Center for the Promotion of Disarmament and Nonproliferation (CPDNP, 2008-14) of the Japan Institute of International Affairs (JIIA), and serves as a member of a ICNND follow-up group called APLN (Asia-Pacific Leadership Network for Nuclear Nonproliferation and Disarmament) and the Group of Eminent Persons for the CTBT Entry into Force. His most recent position was a Senior Fellow at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs of Harvard Kennedy School for the academic year 2018-2019. He learned at the University of Tokyo and graduated from Amherst College, USA.