MOSCOW, June 5. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin has sent his greetings to the participants of the plenary session of the Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism (GICNT) in a telegram published on the Kremlin’s website on Wednesday.

"It is important that despite a difficult global situation, members of the Initiative continue to cooperate as partners in a constructive manner, based on a mutual understanding of issues related to the threat of nuclear terrorism. Due to that, we have managed to form a representative and influential expert community, establish a systematic exchange of our best practices and state-of-the-art projects in the sphere of science and technology," the telegram says.

Putin noted that members of the GICNT have initiated extensive work aimed at countering the nuclear terrorism threat and protecting nuclear facilities and material. The Russian leader pointed out that GICNT members have made a significant contribution to universalize important international agreements, such as the International Convention for the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism, the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material and Amendments to said Convention.

"I hope that during the plenary session you will hold constructive and meaningful discussions, discuss the direction of future efforts aimed to raise the efficiency of the Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism," Putin added.

The creation of the Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism was announced in 2006 during the G8 summit in St. Petersburg by Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President George W. Bush. The initiative’s aim is to strengthen the global capacity to prevent, detect, and respond to nuclear terrorism. Currently, the GICNT involves 88 member states and 6 international organizations.