Armenia and USA to Combat Against Nuclear Smuggling

YEREVAN — On September 9, U.S. Ambassador to Armenia Richard Mills and Armenia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Ashot Hovakimyan signed a supplemental agreement to the 2008 U.S.-Armenia Joint Action Plan on Combating Smuggling of Nuclear and Radioactive Materials. The supplement helps improve U.S.-Armenian efforts to combat nuclear smuggling by establishing a mechanism for the two governments to engage more closely on nuclear forensics for use in investigations into such trafficking.

According to Armenian MFA, the amendment is aimed on development and expansion of Armenian-American cooperation in the sphere of fight against nuclear smuggling.

The Joint Action Plan between Armenia and the United States was signed on July 14, 2008,
between then US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian.

This political agreement expresses the intention of the two governments to cooperate in increasing the capabilities of the Republic of Armenia to prevent, detect, and respond effectively to attempts to smuggle nuclear or radioactive materials. It specifies twenty-eight agreed steps that the two governments intend to be taken for this purpose.

The two governments also agreed that they were to proceed along parallel paths in implementing this action plan with the United States and Armenia enhancing their collaborative efforts to combat the threat that nuclear or highly radioactive materials could be acquired by terrorists or others who would use them to harm both countries.