Assistant Secretary of State John C. Rood to Lead U.S. Delegation at Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism Meeting and U.S.-India Bilateral Discussions on Nonproliferation Cooperation, June 11-14, 2007

Assistant Secretary of State for International Security and Nonproliferation John C. Rood together with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Kislyak will chair the third meeting of the Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism hosted by the Government of Kazakhstan in Astana, Kazakhstan, June 11-12. He also will lead a delegation to India for nonproliferation discussions on June 13-14.

In Astana, Assistant Secretary Rood will be joined on the U.S. Delegation to the Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism meeting by National Nuclear Security Administration Deputy Administrator William Tobey; Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Global Security Affairs Joseph Benkert; and Director of the Defense Threat Reduction Agency Dr. James Tegnelia.

Global Initiative partner nations will review the progress of current Plan of Work activities designed to build partnership capacity, discuss means to address potential gaps in implementation, and welcome new partner nations. Participants also will link up via video conference with the FBI sponsored International Nuclear Terrorism Law Enforcement Conference in Miami, Florida, a Global Initiative activity bringing together more than 500 law enforcement officers from 20 countries from June 11-15. There are presently 50 partner nations in the Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism.

During his visit to New Delhi, Mr. Rood will continue the long-standing dialogue between the United States and India on nonproliferation and security issues. Mr. Rood will meet with officials from India's Ministry of External Affairs to discuss global nonproliferation challenges and approaches to addressing them, including multilateral initiatives and strategic trade controls. He also will engage on regional security issues, including nuclear and missile issues and missile defense.

For more information about the Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism and a list of the partner nations, please visit http://www.state.gov/t/isn/c18406.htm.

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