WASHINGTON, April 13, (AFP): A 47-nation summit in Washington agreed Tuesday to lock up the world’s most vulnerable nuclear materials within four years to prevent terrorists from setting off a global “catastrophe.”
The unprecedented gathering met the challenge posed by President Barack Obama who said the world was littered with poorly guarded fissile material that militant groups could use to build a horrific weapon.
“We welcome and join President Obama’s call to secure all vulnerable nuclear material in four years, as we work together to enhance nuclear security,” the leaders said in a joint communique due to be released shortly and seen by AFP.
They outlined measures to combat nuclear trafficking, including sharing information and expertise in detection, forensics and law enforcement.
The leaders said they “recognize the need for cooperation among states to effectively prevent and respond to incidents of illicit nuclear trafficking.”
They also underlined that the “essential role” in combating nuclear proliferation rests with the UN watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency.
At the same time, the summit participants said increased security must “not infringe upon the rights of states to develop and utilize nuclear energy for peaceful purposes and technology.”
Hosting the largest summit in the United States for more than six decades, Obama also pressed China to back UN sanctions against Iran over its controversial nuclear power program.
Amid mixed signals from Beijing, Chinese President Hu Jintao told the summit that Beijing “firmly” opposes atomic weapons proliferation, while backing civilian uses.
On what are commonly referred to as loose nukes, Obama pressed his guests “not simply to talk, but to act.”
“Nuclear materials that could be sold or stolen and fashioned into a nuclear weapon exist in dozens of nations,” Obama said.
He said radioactive material just “the size of an apple” would be enough to kill thousands of people.
“Terrorist networks such as al-Qaeda have tried to acquire the material for a nuclear weapon, and if they ever succeed, they would surely use it,” Obama said.
“It would be a catastrophe for the world — causing extraordinary loss of life, and striking a major blow at global peace and stability,” the US president said.
Mexico gave Obama’s initiative a boost Tuesday by agreeing to give up weapons-grade uranium. Ex-Soviet Ukraine and Canada on Monday made similar pledges, as did Chile earlier.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov announced plans to spend up to 2.5 billion dollars to dispose of plutonium from its massive defense program.
The two-day gathering also saw Obama meet privately Monday with Hu over Iran’s nuclear program, which Washington says is masking a secret bomb-making drive.
The United States is pushing for new UN sanctions against Iran, which insists it has no military program, but needs nuclear power.
The support of China, a big economic partner of Iran and also a veto-wielding member of the UN Security Council, is crucial to the US plan.
On Tuesday, China’s foreign ministry reaffirmed its long-held skepticism about the need for sanctions, saying that “pressure and sanctions cannot fundamentally solve” the standoff.
But the White House was optimistic about chances of getting China on board.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who backs sanctions, said she was “very hopeful.”
She spoke of “a positive development, even if it is moving slowly and we can’t say whether it will lead to sanctions.”
Hu’s strong statement at the summit was scrutinized for signals about China’s position.
“We firmly oppose nuclear weapons proliferation and strongly support efforts to enhance international nuclear security,” he told the summit.
Hu added that China backs “the equal right of all countries to the peaceful use of nuclear energy.”
The New York Times reported that Obama was offering to help China maintain steady fuel deliveries if sanctions against Iran led to a disruption of oil supplies.
Iran defiantly said it was organizing its own nuclear conference to be held in Tehran on Saturday and Sunday with foreign ministers from 15 countries.
Host
South Korea was selected Tuesday as host of the next major nuclear summit in 2012 and vowed to use the occasion as an incentive to persuade defiant North Korea to give up its atomic arsenal.
Obama, who brought together 47 world leaders in one of Washington’s biggest-ever gatherings to plot action on nuclear security, said South Korea would hold the next summit two years later.
“This reflects South Korea’s leadership regionally and globally,” Obama told the summit.
The announcement surprised many watching the summit, who presumed that Russia — the world’s second largest nuclear power which signed a treaty with Obama last week to reduce its arsenal — would lead the next meeting.
But world powers have increasingly been at a loss on how to handle North Korea, which has tested two nuclear bombs since 2006 and has called its arsenal a deterrent against the United States.
South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak said that North Korea would be welcome at the summit if it made progress in six-nation talks, under which Pyongyang committed to denuclearization in return for security guarantees and aid.
“If we can achieve substantive results through such peaceful dialogue, then of course we would welcome North Korea to take part in subsequent meetings,” Lee told reporters. “We hope it can happen.”
Pledging to make the summit “a success,” Lee thanked Obama for choosing South Korea and said it was a “historic achievement” for his country.
“It has particular meaning and significance for Korea because it has always been exposed to the dangers of nuclear weapons and proliferation,” Lee said.
“Korea will continue to do all that we can to bring about lasting peace and stability on the Korean peninsula,” he said.
North Korea has figured only in passing in the Washington summit, which has zeroed in on the threat of Islamic extremists seizing loose nuclear material along with Western fears that Iran is developing a nuclear bomb.
North Korea last year declared agreements from the six-nation talks void but later promised to return to the table after an appeal by China, the closest political and economic partner of the impoverished regime.
Succeed
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Tuesday that Iran was the “only chance” for his US counterpart Barack Obama to succeed after the crises Washington has faced in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Ahmadinejad also said that he is currently drafting a letter to Obama which will be “published in due time.”
“Mr Obama has only one chance and that is Iran. This is not emotional talk but scientific. He has but one place to say that ‘I made a change and I turned over the world equation’ and that is Iran,” Ahmadinejad said in a live interview on state television.
“He has but one chance to stay as head of the state and succeed. Obama cannot do anything in Palestine. He has no chance. What can he do in Iraq? Nothing. And Afghanistan is too complicated.
“The best way for him is to accept and respect Iran and enter into cooperation. Many new opportunities will be created for him.”
Ahmadinejad’s remarks come as Washington is ratcheting up pressure at the United Nations for a new round of sanctions against Tehran over its failure to heed repeated ulitmatums to suspend uranium enrichment.
Leaders
Leaders of Russia and Japan were holding a previously unscheduled meeting Tuesday as the two countries struggle to make headway on an island dispute, officials said.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev agreed to a request by Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama for talks on the sidelines of a 47-nation nuclear security summit in Washington, officials said.
“Taking into consideration repeated, persistent requests of his Japanese colleague, obviously such a meeting will take place,” Medvedev’s top foreign policy adviser Sergei Prikhodko told reporters.
Japanese foreign ministry spokesman Kazuo Kodama expected that the two leaders “definitely will continue the political dialogue between the two on all the major bilateral issues” in the meeting later Tuesday.
He voiced hope at eventually taking the “Russo-Japan bilateral relationship into a higher dimension by resolving the issue of the Northern Territories.”
The two nations have never signed a treaty to formally end World War II because of Japan’s claims to four islands which Soviet troops seized off its northern coast, expelling the Japanese residents, in the waning days of the conflict.