The 2016 Nuclear Security Summit begins today in Washington aimed to bring the international community together in order to combat the threat of nuclear terrorism around the globe. The Summit will provide a forum for world leaders to reinforce commitments, at the highest levels, to enhance the security of their nuclear and radiological materials and combat nuclear terrorism.

The two-day event will see the participation of 53 heads of states, including six Arab countries, in addition to representatives from United Nations Organisations and the International Atomic Energy Agency, as well as the International Criminal Police Organisation - Interpol and the European Union.

The Summit will discuss the international and institutional measures to strengthen nuclear security in the world, as well as encourage more states, those capable of securing the protection of nuclear materials, to assist other nations to do so, besides strengthen the role of international and regional institutions to curb the spread of nuclear materials.

The annual Summit this year comes in light of a wave of terrorist bombings, which affected much of the world and the most recently one was the Brussels bombings, which puts the leaders of the nations of the world in front of great challenges in order to complement international efforts to confront and combat nuclear terrorism, which has become a new feature of the paths of violence and terrorism, where the issue of nuclear facilities protection is at the forefront of what the Summit will discuss.

The first Nuclear Security Summit was held in Washington, D.C. in 2010, and was followed by additional Summits in Seoul in 2012, and The Hague in 2014. These Summits achieved tangible improvements in the security of nuclear materials and stronger international institutions that support nuclear security.
Source:WAM