Global Security Newswire

The Netherlands is expected to host a meeting next month of senior delegates from 42 nations to help plan for U.S. President Barack Obama's Global Nuclear Security Summit this April, Kyodo News reported yesterday (see GSN, Oct. 28, 2009).

The Feb. 9 session at The Hague "largely aims at drafting a joint statement to be issued at the end of the Nuclear Security Summit," said a source with knowledge of the matter.

"The Nuclear Security Summit is designed in principle to discuss the nuclear terror threat, so the North Korean nuclear issue is not on the list of formal agenda items. But participants are expected to touch on the issue as it is a serious setback to global security," the source added (see related GSN story, today).

The summit is planned to be held April 12-13 in Washington. One preliminary session has been conducted in Tokyo and another is set for March in Washington, Kyodo reported (Kyodo News I/Breitbart.com, Jan. 20).

Meanwhile, 17 Asian countries are expected to launch a two-day conference tomorrow in Japan on nuclear counterterrorism efforts, according to Kyodo.

The meeting is set to include representatives from the International Atomic Energy Agency, the 10 member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, China, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, South Korea, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan (Kyodo News II/Japan Times, Jan. 20).

Elsewhere, the Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism plans to hold its yearly meeting in the United Arab Emirates this June, the Emirates News Agency reported (Emirates News Agency, Jan. 19; see GSN, June 16, 2009).