WASHINGTON, April 2. /TASS/. The 2016 Nuclear Security Summit in Washington was the last one in that format, the final communique of the summit distributed Friday by the White House press service said.
"We reaffirm our commitment to our shared goals of nuclear disarmament, nuclear non-proliferation and peaceful use of nuclear energy. We also reaffirm that measures to strengthen nuclear security will not hamper the rights of States to develop and use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes," the communique stated.
"We reaffirm the fundamental responsibility of States, in accordance with their respective obligations, to maintain at all times effective security of all nuclear and other radioactive material, including nuclear materials used in nuclear weapons, and nuclear facilities under their control," it said.
"More work remains to be done to prevent non-state actors from obtaining nuclear and other radioactive materials, which could be used for malicious purposes. We commit to fostering a peaceful and stable international environment by reducing the threat of nuclear terrorism and strengthening nuclear security," the document said.
"We reaffirm the essential responsibility and the central role of the International Atomic Energy Agency in strengthening the global nuclear security architecture and in developing international guidance, and its leading role in facilitating and coordinating nuclear security activities among international organizations and initiatives and supporting the efforts of States to fulfill their nuclear security responsibilities," it said.
"We welcome and support the Agency in convening regular high-level international conferences, such as the December 2016 international conference on nuclear security including its Ministerial segment, to maintain political momentum and continue to raise awareness of nuclear security among all stakeholders," the communique stated.
"In our continued collective determination to ensure political momentum and to continuously strengthen nuclear security at national, regional, and global levels, we resolve to implement the attached Action Plans," it said.
This will be done "in support of the international organizations and initiatives to which we respectively belong (the United Nations, the International Atomic Energy Agency, INTERPOL, the Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism, and the Global Partnership Against the Spread of Weapons and Materials of Mass Destruction), to be carried out on a voluntary basis and consistent with national laws and respective international obligations," the document said.
"The 2016 Summit marks the end of the Nuclear Security Summit process in this format. We affirm that the Communiques from the 2010, 2012 and 2014 Summits and the Work Plan of the 2010 Summit will continue to guide our efforts as we endeavor to fully implement them," the 2016 Nuclear Security Summit Communique stated.
Russia has not taken part in the current summit
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Friday Moscow has long and substantively explained to the United States that it has refused to take part in the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington over the hosting side’s unpreparedness to ensure equal rights for all its participants.
"Speaking about the distortion of the substance of our contacts, we now observe the attempts to delude the world public about what is happening around Russia’s non-participation in the nuclear summit in Washington," Lavrov said.
"The measures that are being held in Washington are being staged from the very outset as the events that do not imply equitable participation," the Russian foreign minister said.
"I treat with respect the countries, which have decided to participate in the summit," Lavrov said.
"But we have long and substantively explained that the format, in which it was devised, manifests the countries’ inequality in preparing final documents and the attempts to substitute both the UN, Interpol and the IAEA," Lavrov said.