Daily Times

WASHINGTON: Pakistan attaches great importance to strengthening global nuclear security and fully shares global concern that nuclear materials and facilities must never fall into the wrong hands, Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Syed Tariq Fatemi has said.

Speaking at a dinner hosted by President Barack Obama for leaders attending the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington on Thursday night, Fatemi said, “Pakistan has ratified the 2005 Amendment to The Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material (CPPNM).” “This was a commitment that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif made at the 2014 Hague Summit. Our delivering on this commitment demonstrates the importance we attach to strengthening global nuclear security architecture,” Fatemi said. The dinner session of the summit was titled “Nuclear Security Threat Perception.”

The adviser said Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was eagerly looking forward to participating in the summit’s deliberations but unfortunate developments back home prevented him from traveling to Washington. He conveyed Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s greetings and good wishes to the world leaders. He said the NSS has made significant progress in the past six years and the process has contributed significantly to nuclear security. Valuable ground has been covered in strengthening nuclear security architecture worldwide through national actions and voluntary exchange of experience, expertise and best practices, he added.

“Nuclear materials must never fall into the wrong hands. This is a global concern which Pakistan fully shares,” the adviser said. Fatemi said renewed interest in nuclear energy worldwide implies more nuclear materials and facilities necessitating more preparedness and it was equally important to remain alive to the potential threat of radiological dispersal devices.