Sherpas Meeting Begins For 2nd Nuclear Security Summit

New Delhi, Jan 17, IRNA -- Ahead of 2nd Nuclear Security Summit to be held in Seoul, a two-day preparatory meeting of 'Sherpas' began here Monday. The meeting, which comes in the backdrop of last year's Fukushima nuclear tragedy in Japan, is being attended by delegates of 49 countries and four international organizations including the International Atmoic Energy Agency (IAEA). Inaugurating the event, Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai, who is India's Sherpa, today said the discussion will help make progress on the draft-communique of the 2012 Nuclear Security Summit in Seoul with a view to ensuring its early finalization. 'Sherpas' Gary Somers from the US and Bang Hyun Kin from North Korea are among the delegates. The 49 'Sherpas' or personal representatives of heads of government and officials from four multilateral organizations are expected to discuss action-oriented measures for preventing nuclear terrorism. The measures include minimizing Highly Enriched Uranium (HEU) and plutonium (Pu), strengthening the protection of nuclear facilities and preventing illicit trafficking of nuclear materials. The discussions are expected to focus on themes such as the synergy between nuclear security and safety and the management of radiological materials. The officials are likely to prepare a blueprint for an interface between nuclear security and safety which may help restore confidence of the international community in nuclear power, which was significantly dented by the Fukushima disaster in March last year./end