COOPERATION IN THE FIGHT AGAINST THE PROLIFERATION OF NUCLEAR MATERIALS IS DISCUSSED IN THE U.S.
On May 3, Ambassador-at-Large at Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Linas Linkevičius, who is on a visit to Washington, D.C., and U.S. officials and experts discussed the readiness of Lithuanian institutions to fight against nuclear terrorism and smuggling of radiological material, best practice of coordination among various state institutions in this area.
The diplomat discussed further Lithuania-U.S. cooperation with the White House National Security Council Senior Director for WMD Terrorism and Threat Reduction Laura Holgate and Simon Limage, Deputy Assistant Secretary at the U.S. Department of State.Activities of the newly established Centre of Excellence for Energy Security in Lithuania were also presented during the Ambassador’s conversations with his counterparts in the U.S. The U.S. delegation was invited to the official opening of this centre, which is due in June 2012.
“Lithuania takes into consideration very seriously the new threats, such as illicit and illegal transfer and proliferation of nuclear materials. We hope that in cooperation with various U.S. institutions we will be able to professionally develop activities of the centre of excellence, which was recently established in Lithuania and, we hope, will become a regional centre for training and expertise,” Linkevičius said.
On May 3, the Ambassador also visited the Andrews Air Force Base near Washington, D.C., where he got acquainted with the activities of the Special Operations Command of the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration that aims to prevent the proliferation of nuclear materials.
The Centre of Excellence for Energy Security that was set up at the Border Guard School in Medininkai on 1 April contributes to the world community’s fight against nuclear terrorism and smuggling, and to the prevention of these extremely dangerous crime acts.
On March 26-27 this year, Lithuania was for the first time ever invited to participate in the Nuclear Security Summit in Seoul, the capital of South Korea, which was attended by President of Lithuania Dalia Grybauskaitė.
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