Nuclear Security Summit kicks off in Washington

The Summit opened with welcome reception of heads of delegations of participant states by US President Barack Obama.

Heads and members of the official delegations of 43 states, UN Secretary-General, IAEA Secretary-General, representatives of the Council of Europe, EU and NATO take part in the Summit.

Holding of the Summit is continuation of the US Administration policy in the field of nuclear disarmament and nonproliferation, main principles of which were announced in President Barack Obama's speech in Prague in April, 2009. The Summit's major goal is achievement of a common understanding of heads of states in respect of threat of nuclear terrorism, and realization that nuclear facilities, materials and technologies should be in a safe place and do not fall into the hands of terrorists.

It is expected that in the course of the Summit the participant states will confirm obligations accepted earlier, including international cooperation and improvement of the global system of nuclear materials protection, and will take further steps on strengthening cooperation in all spheres of nuclear security.

Following the results of the discussion it is planned to develop an action plan on security protection of nuclear materials storage, prevention of nuclear materials smuggling, combating nuclear terrorism, and to adopt a single standard of global nuclear security.