U.S.-ARMENIAN ACTION PLAN TO CONTRIBUTE TO FIGHT AGAINST NUCLEAR TERRORISM – U.S. EMBASSY

Interfax News Agency
July 15 2008
Russia

The U.S.-Armenian Joint Action Plan on Combating Smuggling of Nuclear
and Radioactive Materials will contribute to the fight against nuclear
terrorism, the U.S. embassy in Armenia told Interfax on Tuesday.

"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," the embassy said in a statement.

"This political agreement expresses the intention of the two
governments to cooperate to increase Armenia’s capabilities to prevent,
detect, and respond effectively to attempts to smuggle nuclear or
radioactive materials," the statement says.

This agreement, signed by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and
Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian and in Washington in July,
became the fifth in a series of similar agreements. The U.S. side
earlier concluded similar agreements with Ukraine, Kazakhstan,
Georgia and Kyrgyzstan, the embassy said.