Meeting in Georgia – The NSOI delegation returned to Tbilisi October 16, 2008, to review with the Georgian government the losses to Georgian anti-nuclear smuggling capabilities resulting from the events of August 2008 and to negotiate an addendum to Georgia’s joint action plan, as well as a revised list of priority assistance projects, aimed at restoring and further improving Georgia’s capabilities.  The Georgian delegation also provided an extensive update on its progress in implementing the original joint action plan and the U.S. delegation described its progress in securing funding for NSOI-developed projects in Georgia.  Once the Government of Georgia approves and signs the addendum, the NSOI team will seek funding for the new and expanded projects on the assistance list and will post updated fact sheets on this website.  Proposed additional assistance focuses primarily on enhancing the capability of the Georgian Coast Guard to monitor the Black Sea and providing reliable, secure communications among the Georgian Border Police, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and first responders.

Global Initiative Legal and Regulatory Frameworks Conference – On September 4 and 5, the NSOI team participated in a conference in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, to foster discussion on the implementation of appropriate criminal and/or civil liability for terrorists and those that facilitate acts of nuclear terrorism.  The NSOI team, the U.S. Department of Justice, and several NSOI partner countries made presentations on the importance of adequate legal authorities for prosecuting nuclear smuggling.  The George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies and the U.S. Department of Defense organized this conference under the auspices of the Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism.  

U.S.-Ukraine Nonproliferation Working Group Meeting – At the semiannual meeting in Kiev on July 31 and August 1, NSOI Coordinator Michael Stafford and his Ukrainian counterpart reviewed Ukrainian progress in implementing the U.S.-Ukrainian Joint Action Plan and U.S. progress in securing funding for assistance projects supporting that plan. 

 

 

 

Joint NSOI-UNODC Legislative Drafting Workshop in Ukraine – NSOI and UNODC's Terrorism Prevention Branch (TPB) held their first joint workshop on legislative drafting in Ukraine from March 11-13, 2008.  This national workshop, entitled the Legislative Drafting Expert Workshop on the Criminal Law Aspects of the Universal Legal Framework Against Nuclear Terrorism, sought to strengthen Ukraine's national legislation and international legal cooperation against nuclear smuggling and terrorism.  UNODC's legal experts, in cooperation with a representative from the U.S. Department of Justice's Counterterrorism Section, developed recommendations for necessary legislative reforms in partnership with a broad delegation of Ukrainian experts.  The goal of these recommendations is to allow Ukrainian law to fully prosecute all cases of nuclear smuggling, including scams, and to identify the necessary steps to bring Ukraine's laws into compliance with the relevant international conventions on terrorism.

Kyrgyz Republic Signs Joint Action Plan – On September 30, 2007, the Kyrgyz Republic became the fourth country with which NSOI completed an action plan when Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Kyrgyz Foreign Minister Ednan Karabayev signed the “Program of Cooperation between the Government of the United States of America and the Government of the Kyrgyz Republic on Combating the Smuggling of Nuclear and Radioactive Materials.”  For the U.S. Department of State press release on this event, click here.