India, 24 nations pledge action plans at N-security meet

India, China, Japan and Canada were among 25 countries that announced specific action plans at the Nuclear Security Summit here with regard to non- proliferation, including setting up of facilities for research and development and contribution of funds to IAEA.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, addressing the summit of the 47-nation convened by US President Barack Obama yesterday, announced India’s decision to set up a Global Nuclear Energy Centre for conducting research and development of design systems that are secure, proliferation resistant and sustainable.

As soon as Singh made the announcement, US President Barack Obama intervened to welcome it, saying “this will be one more tool to establish best practises” in the quest for nuclear safety.

While China said it would establish a nuclear security Centre of Excellence, Japan announced launching an integrated regional support centre; research and development on detection and forensics; contributing new resources to IAEA’s Nuclear Security Fund; and hosting and funding a World Institute of Nuclear Security best practices conference.

“I want to commend my partners for the very important commitments that they made in conjunction with this summit,” Obama said.