16 July 2006
Bush, Russia's Putin Announce Program Against Nuclear Terrorism
Initiative calls for countries to boost efforts to control radioactive material
Washington -- President Bush and President Vladimir Putin of Russia announced July 15 a new international initiative to prevent nuclear terrorism and stop the spread of nuclear and radioactive materials.
The two leaders made the announcement in St. Petersburg, Russia, where they are participating in the July 15-17 summit of Group of Eight (G8) countries with their counterparts from Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United Kingdom.
“We trust that … all countries that share our common goals of suppressing and mitigating the consequences of acts of nuclear terrorism will … reinforce the joint efforts to increase international cooperation in combating this threat,” Bush and Putin said in a joint statement.
The Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism calls on countries to expand and accelerate efforts to better account for and control nuclear and radioactive materials, prevent theft and smuggling of those materials and nuclear weapons, and deny safe haven to terrorists seeking to acquire or use nuclear materials, according to a White House fact sheet.
The United States and Russia have invited other countries to discuss the details of the program at a fall meeting and have asked the International Atomic Energy Agency to serve as an observer.
The initiative builds on the 2005 International Convention for the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism, the Proliferation Security Initiative -- a U.S.-led program aimed at seizing illicit weapons as they are transported around the world -- and a number of other U.S., bilateral and multilateral efforts. (See related article.)
Bush and Putin also expressed support for a plan designed to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons by creating international centers for uranium enrichment and reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel under the control of the International Atomic Energy Agency.
In a separate statement issued July 16, G8 leaders called on all countries not party to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC) and the 1925 Geneva Protocol to accede to them without delay and for those nations that have not yet done so to subscribe to the Hague Code of Conduct Against Ballistic Missile Proliferation. The statement also urges all countries concerned to observe strictly a moratorium on nuclear weapon test explosions or any other nuclear explosions.
The joint statement, the transcript of the press availability, and a related fact sheet are available on the White House Web site. A fact sheet with additional information on the Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism is available from the State Department Web site.
For more information on U.S. policies, see Arms Control and Non-Proliferation.
For ongoing coverage of the G8 meetings, see G8 Summit 2006, St. Petersburg, Russia.
(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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