MODI TO ATTEND TWO-DAY NUCLEAR SUMMIT LIKELY TO BE DOINATED BY CONCERNS OVER ISLAMIC STATE
WASHINGTON: The US expects to deepen cooperation with India on nuclear security as an outcome of the Nuclear Security Summit likely to be dominated by concerns about Islamic State and North Korea.
“We really would like to see a even deeper bilateral cooperation with India proceed going forward out of the summit,” White House official Laura Holgate told reporters on Tuesday. India has participated in all the three previous Nuclear Security Summits, starting 2010, and the issue figures prominently and regularly in bilateral interactions and joint statements.
At a separate briefing previewing the summit for reporters, White House officials outlined an agenda that clearly reflected the IS, in the aftermath of the Brussels terror attacks, and North Korea as top concerns. PM Narendra Modi, currently in Belgium, arrives here on Thursday for the two-day summit being attended by 52 nations, and Interpol and European Union.
Modi is likely to have bilateral meetings on the sidelines — pull-asides or formal sit-downs with other leaders – but a schedule has not been announced yet.
He will visit the White House on Thursday, the day he arrives, along with other world leaders for a working dinner hosted by President Ba rack Obama. The two leaders will be together most of the next day, and may get a chance to meet though a formal bilateral doesn’t appear to be on the cards yet. India expects the summit to raise awareness about nuclear terrorism and bolster global cooperation against terrorists and nuclear traffickers, according to officials in New Delhi.
The Nuclear Security Summit, a US initiative launched by Obama, has been focussed from the start on preventing nuclear materials from falling into the hands of terrorists and traffickers. This year, the focus is largely on IS and North Korea. A “special summit” is scheduled for Friday specifically to discuss the threat from groups such as the IS.
North Korea, the other top concern, will be the topic of discussion at Obama’s first meeting of the summit — a trilateral meeting with counterparts from South Korea and Japan.
PAK’S NUKES CAN RAISE SECURITY THREAT; US
As world leaders gather for the Nuclear Security Summit this week, the US has said that Pakistan’s continued deployment of tactical atomic weapons can increase the security threat.
“Our concerns regarding the continuing deployment of battlefield nuclear weapons by Pakistan relate to a reality of the situation. When battlefield nuclear weapons are deployed forward, they can represent enhanced nuclear security threat,” said Rose Gottemoeller, the under secretary of state for arms control and international security.
“It is more difficult to sustain positive control over systems that are deployed forward. We found this lesson ourselves out in Europe during the years of the Cold War. And so I do think that it is a reality of the situation,” she said. “Wherever battlefield nuclear weapons exist, they represent particular nuclear security problems,” Gottemoeller said ahead of the Nuclear Security Summit being hosted by US on March 31-April 1.
This is not the first time that Gottemoeller raised such concerns about Pakistan. At a Congressional hearing earlier this month, she had said: “We have been very concerned about Pakistan’s deployment of battlefield nuclear weapons.”
Prime Minister N aw az Sharif has cancelled his trip to Washington for the summit in the wake of the terrorist attack in a Lahore park in which 72 people were killed and scores injured.
Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump, meanwhile, said nucleararmed Pakistan is a “very very vital problem”.
THE FOURTH NUCLEAR SUMMIT: WHAT’S AT STAKE?
Obama convened the first Nuclear Security Summit in 2010, followed by Seoul in 2012 and The Hague in 2014
SOURCE: WWW.NSS2016.ORGNuclear Security Summit 2016 March 31-April 1, Washington DCSIGNIFICANCE?
This will be the fourth in a series of summits that have brought together leaders from 50+ countries and four international bodies to make new commitments towards reducing the threat of nuclear terrorism
NUCLEAR TERRORISM
One of the greatest threats to world security. If any terrorist networks get their hands on a nuclear device, the consequences for the world would be catastrophic
BEST WAYS TO PREVENT THREAT
Locking down nuclear materials and strengthening global nuclear security
KEY TAKEAWAY
The summits pushed for minimising civilian use of highly enriched uranium (HEU), key component used in nuclear weapons, by eliminating the material
Accomplishments since 2009
Removal of over 3.8 metric tonnes of foreign material by the US and its partners (enough for over 150 nuclear weapons)
Over 29 metric tonnes of US surplus HEU that the US down-blended (enough for over 1,100 nuclear weapons)
Approximately 138 metric tonnes of Russian weapons-origin HEU that US experts confirmed was permanently eliminated under the HEU Purchase Agreement (enough for over 5,500
nuclear weapons)
Over 5.8 metric tonnes of Russian non-weapons-origin HEU that was down-blended with US support (enough for over 230 nuclear weapons)