US, ARMENIA SIGN AGT ON FIGHTING NUCLEAR MATERIALS CONTRABAND

ITAR-TASS
July 15 2008
Russia

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Armenian Foreign Minister
Edward Nalbandian on Monday signed a joint plan of action between
the US and Armenian governments on combating contraband of nuclear
and radioactive materials.

Calling this document a political agreement the US State Department
noted that it expresses the two governments’ intention to cooperate
for the expansion of possibilities of Armenia in the sphere of the
prevention, exposure and effective reacting to attempts at smuggling
nuclear or radioactive materials.

The agreement outlines specific steps – in a total of 28 clauses –
that are needed to be taken for the fulfilment of the set task. If
necessary the United States will seek funds to provide assistance
to Armenia in this sphere, including with the attraction of the
international community.

Spokesman for the US Department of State Sean McCormack told a
briefing on Monday that the agreement between Armenia and the US
side "basically is an agreement designed to protect against nuclear
smuggling, and obviously, an issue that we can all agree upon, that
there be good cooperation between the United States and countries
overseas. So it’s an important agreement for the United States and
Armenia, certainly in terms of our non-proliferation efforts."

"They are also going to touch upon issues in their meeting related
to deepening political as well as economic reform in Armenia. And
I’m sure she’ll (Rice) talk a little bit about Nagorno-Karabakh and
where those discussions stand," he noted.

According to a press release of the US State Department, "Secretary of
State Condoleezza Rice and Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian
signed on July 14, 2008, the "Joint Action Plan between the Government
of the United States of America and the Government of the Republic of
Armenia on Combating Smuggling of Nuclear and Radioactive Materials."

"This political agreement expresses the intention of the two
governments to cooperate to increase the capabilities of the Republic
of Armenia to prevent, detect, and respond effectively to attempts to
smuggle nuclear or radioactive materials. It specifies twenty-eight
agreed steps that the two governments intend to be taken for this
purpose," it said.

"The governments agree that they will proceed along parallel paths
in implementing this action plan. The Republic of Armenia intends
to implement those steps that it is capable of carrying out on
its own. For those steps where assistance is needed, the United
States intends to seek to identify sources, from within either
the U.S. government or the international community, to provide
such assistance. This assistance would complement and be carefully
coordinated with the aid the Republic of Armenia is already receiving
from various U.S. and international assistance programs," it is noted
in the document.

"With this agreement, the U.S. and Armenian governments are
significantly enhancing their collaborative efforts to combat the
threat that nuclear or highly radioactive materials could be acquired
by terrorists or others who would use them to harm us," it said.

"This is the fifth agreement of this nature that has been concluded by
the U.S. government’s Nuclear Smuggling Outreach Initiative. Previous
agreements were completed with Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Georgia, and the
Kyrgyz Republic, and the U.S. government intends to conclude similar
agreements with approximately twenty additional countries where the
risk of nuclear smuggling is of particular concern. To date, eight
countries and three international organizations have partnered with
the U.S. government to provide assistance to support implementation
of these agreements," according to the press release.