Nuclear Security Summit: India Hopes N-Terrorism Threat Addressed
New Delhi hopes participants will uphold confidence in the safe, secure and safeguarded extension on nuclear power.
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US Secretary of State John Kerry has said that “India has a very important role to play with respect to responsible stewardship of nuclear weapons and nuclear materials”.
A lot of focus during the summit will be on what New Delhi has to say.
India expects that the summit would contribute further to raising high level awareness of the threat of nuclear terrorism.
India expects there will be initiatives to strengthen international cooperation against terrorists and nuclear traffickers.
India will seek that the threat of nuclear terrorism is addressed at the Fourth Nuclear Security Summit being held in Washington even as New Delhi hopes that the participants will uphold confidence in the safe, secure and safeguarded extension on nuclear power.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is attending the summit. He issued a statement ahead of his departure from New Delhi, to convey what he hopes to witness at the summit.
With US Secretary of State John Kerry saying that “India has a very important role to play with respect to responsible stewardship of nuclear weapons and nuclear materials”, a lot of focus during the summit will be on what New Delhi has to say.
After attending a leaders-only thematic dinner on “Nuclear security threat perceptions” hosted by US President Barack Obama on Thursday, leaders of 53 nations and four international organisations will sit across three working sessions on Friday to discuss nuclear security and various aspects associated with it.
Gill, who addressed a media briefing (in New Delhi) on the summit, is joint secretary (disarmament and international security affairs) in the ministry of external affairs.
Gill said India would also expect the summit to uphold confidence in the safe, secure and safeguarded extension on nuclear power which would be a critical requirement of reaching national and international goals on non-fossil fuel energy.
Thirdly, India would expect that those who have not done so would sign up to and implement the legally binding instruments related to nuclear security.
These include the International Convention on the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism, the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material and its 2005 amendment, and obligatory reporting under the UN Security Council Resolution 1540, which was adopted in 2004 and which has prohibitions and obligations related to non-state actors and export controls.
As in past summits, participating countries may project the respective steps taken by them to strengthen nuclear security since the last summit, including in the form of submissions of national progress reports.
India will also be submitting its national progress report.
This will happen in the first of Friday’s three sessions.
According to external affairs ministry spokesman Vikas Swarup, India has contributed constructively during the summit’s preparatory meetings from 2014 to 2016 at the level of sherpas.
He said Prime Minister Modi would be making some specific announcements and proposals with regard to nuclear security during his interventions at the summit.
In the second session over a working lunch, the focus of discussions will be on international institutional actions to strengthen nuclear security.
The summit will then end with the participants adopting a joint communique.
The first of these biennial nuclear security summits was held in Washington in April 2010 followed by the summits in Seoul in March 2012 and The Hague in March 2014.
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