3-day global conference on Nuclear Terrorism to begin in New Delhi today

The Implementation and Assessment Group (IAG) meeting of the GICNT partner countries is scheduled to be held from 8-10 February 2017 in New Delhi, the capital city of India.

The 3-day meet will be hosted by the Indian Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in coordination with the Department of Atomic Energy. It is expected to be attended by over 150 delegates, belonging to various partner countries and international organisations.

Key Details

• The conference will be inaugurated by the Foreign Secretary of India, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar.

• The GICNT (Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism) is a voluntary international partnership of 86 nations and five international organisations.

• The main agenda of the meeting is to strengthen the global capacity to detect, prevent and respond to nuclear terrorism.  

• Pakistan is one of the partner countries to attend the key nuclear meet in the capital. The country would be represented by its High Commission officials.

• The meeting highlights India’s pledge towards global nuclear non-proliferation and peaceful use of nuclear energy.

• It is also an extension of India’s overall engagement with the international community on issues related to nuclear security.

According to MEA, the possible misuse of weapons of mass destruction and related material by terrorists is not a hypothetical concern anymore, especially with the alarming increase in terror attacks in countries across the world.

Such a breach of nuclear security would have a deep global impact. The conference is hence, immensely significant, as it would help enhance the vigil of all the partner countries.

About GICNT

• It was launched in 2006 by Russia and the United States.

• The group works towards its goal of preventing nuclear terrorism by conducting multilateral activities that help strengthen the plans, policies and procedures of its partner nations.

• The group has its own set of nuclear security goals called the Statement of Principles (SOP) that include a range of deterrence, prevention, detection, and response objectives, which have been voluntarily taken up by all the partner nations.

• While the United States and Russia serve as Co-Chairs of the GICNT, the Netherlands leads the Implementation and Assessment Group under the guidance of the co-Chairs.

• Until recently, the group has conducted over 70 multilateral activities and nine senior-level meetings.