Forty States and nine international organizations met in Brussels 16-17 December 2002 for the 2nd Conference of the Non-Proliferation and Disarmament Co-operation Initiative (NDCI). The Conference served as a forum to discuss successes and challenges in cooperation with Russia and the Newly Independent States in disarmament and non-proliferation, and to identify needs and future priorities. It was hosted by Canada, the European Union and the United States.
The IAEA presented a paper that described the evolution of the Agency´s programmes and activities in a historic perspective. The presentation focused on three themes:
- Efforts to help the Newly Independent States of the former Soviet Union establish and strengthen their State Systems for Nuclear Material Control and Accountancy and to deal with material security;
- Cooperation with Russia to address challenges such as verification of excess fissile material, take-back of fuel from Soviet-type research reactors, co-ordination of assistance to fuel management in Russia, and locating and securing orphan sources in the Newly Independent States; and
- The Agency´s response to the events of 11 September and strengthening of programmes and activities to prevent nuclear terrorism
The NDCI and its predecessor, the Expanded Threat Reduction Initiative (ETRI), build on the bilateral US-Russian Cooperative Threat Reduction (CTR) Program, which was set up by US Senators Nunn and Lugar to help Russia and the Former Soviet Republics live up to their disarmament and non-proliferation undertakings in the nuclear, chemical and biological sectors. This year´s Conference also supported outreach efforts by the G8 States related to the Global Partnership against the spread of weapons and materials of mass destruction. The G8 aims to channel US $20 billion over the next 10 years to support cooperation projects, initially in Russia.