This was published as Pugwash India Backgrounder in Proliferation and Arms Control, Vol IV, 5, July 2007.
The genesis of the GI can be traced back to US President Bush’s statement where he identified the proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) as a major security threat of the 21st century which required a new, comprehensive strategy.[1] The Bush administration has since then strived to put in place a comprehensive approach to deal with the evolving threat posed by proliferation of WMDs. The US working with the international community has reformed the existing tools and has developed a number of new tools to combat the spread of WMDs.[2]
The US and its allies have put in place several initiatives to combat WMD proliferation over the last five years. The Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI), the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP), Missile Defence (MD) and the newly launched Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism (GI) are some such initiatives. These initiatives in conjunction with financial measures seek to deny proliferators the means to proliferate WMDs. John Rood, US Assistant Secretary of State in his address at the US National Defence University said, “these initiatives demonstrate the breadth, and the international nature, of the tools we must use – political, economic, intelligence, financial, military, science and technology – to combat today’s WMD threats.[3]
It is in this background that the first meeting of the Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism (GI) partners was held in Rabat, Morocco, on October 30-31, 2006, to establish a Statement of Principles to combat nuclear terrorism.[4] Subsequently, a second meeting was held in Ankara, Turkey, on February 12-13, 2007, where the partners reaffirmed their commitment to the initiative and developed a wide gamut of activities aimed at building the capabilities of participating nations and to take advantage of synergies created through multilateral cooperation.[5] The third and most recent meeting of the Initiative was held at Astana, Kazakhstan on June 11-12, 2007. The main aim of this meeting was to consolidate and build on the foundations laid during previous meetings of the GI.