USA and China support nuclear security in Central Asia
Five Central Asian countries, Mongolia, USA and China expressed the desire to establish closer partnership in combating the threat of nuclear terrorism. The statement came at the first-ever regional workshop on Counter Nuclear Smuggling, co-organized by the United States and China on 10-12 July 2018 in Beijing. The event, hosted at China National Nuclear Security Center of Excellence, largest of such kind facility in Asia-Pacific region, brought together participants from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and USA. The audience included experts in diplomacy, border security, law enforcement. The participants of the workshop exchanged views on the threat of nuclear and other radioactive material smuggling and discussed challenges and lessons learned. The workshop focused on nuclear and radiological security, detection and seizure of missing materials, crime scene management, and nuclear forensics. In particular, the experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and INTERPOL shared the best practices in countering nuclear smuggling and information sharing. Together, the participating countries pledged to continue their collaboration to prevent, detect and respond to the smuggling of nuclear and other radioactive materials. The US government has been systematically assisting the Central Asian countries to overcome the threats posed by nuclear proliferation. Thus, in March of this year, the U.S. Embassy in Dushanbe donated a new regional training center, aimed at training law enforcement officers from Central Asian countries in modern methods of preventing the proliferation of nuclear weapons, export control and combating the smuggling of weapons of mass destruction. The facility was granted under the US Export Control and Related Border Security (EXBS) programme, which is active in 60 countries, including Central Asia.
