Morocco joins global anti-nuclear initiative http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2006-10-30T234425Z_01_L29806162_RTRUKOC_0_US-NUCLEAR-INITIATIVE-MOROCCO.xml&WTmodLoc=Home-C5-worldNews-7
Mon Oct 30, 2006
By Lamine Ghanmi
RABAT (Reuters) - Morocco on Monday became the first Arab state to join a global initiative led by Russia and the United States to combat nuclear terrorism, officials said.
The five major nuclear weapons states and seven other countries held their first meeting in Rabat to begin implementing the anti-nuclear terror initiative, first launched at the Group of 8 summit in Russia in July, they said.
"We launched our cooperation against nuclear terrorism and established a shield of cooperation to stop such terrorism," Omar Hilali, secretary general of Morocco's Foreign Ministry, told a news conference.
UnderSecretary of State Robert Joseph and Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Kislyak addressed the news conference to praise Morocco's anti-nuclear proliferation record and commitment to fighting global terrorism. The two officials are co-chairmen of the initiative.
Morocco joined the 12 initial members at the end of the first day of the meeting on Monday in the first expansion of the initiative's membership. It was initially an observer.
"Meeting in Morocco will send a positive signal in the global fight against nuclear terrorism," Joseph said.
The meeting in Rabat aims to make progress on a statement of principles for a "global initiative to combat nuclear terrorism", he said.
Joseph said the countries attending the meeting must work together to deny terrorists access to nuclear materials, prevent nuclear terrorism, and respond in case of a nuclear attack by terrorists.
"A terrorism nuclear attack will change the world as we know," said Hilali.
Participating states included Britain, China and France -- which like Russia and the United States have nuclear weapons -- plus Australia, Canada, Germany, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Turkey and Morocco.
Kazakhstan, which gave up nuclear weapons after the Soviet Union fell, was keen to lead the initiative in Central Asia, which had seen instability and dissident groups vying for power, the officials said.
Turkey was invited because of its role as an important crossroads between the Middle East and the West.
The three officials were vague about what the outcome of the meeting in Rabat.
An U.S. official who spoke from Washington in condition of anonymity said the initiative aimed to have participating states make "a commitment and build capacities to prevent the acquisition of sensitive materials by terrorist groups".
He cited "better protection of radioactive and nuclear materials, better accounting, better security practices, including improved protection of civilian nuclear facilities which may be vulnerable to terrorist attack". "The emphasis is on both detection and interdiction of the material once detected," he added.
Not on the list were two other nuclear weapons states -- India, which is developing new ties with the United States, and Pakistan.
Participants said the program was modeled on the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI), launched by Washington several years ago as a loosely organized group.
Adherents, who number more than 60, share intelligence and conduct exercises aimed at interdicting shipments, including at sea, of items that could be used to make weapons of mass destruction or their delivery systems.
(Additional reporting by Carol Giacomo in Washington)
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