The fourth Nuclear Security Summit, held in Washington, focused on preventing terrorist groups from being accessing nuclear materials that could endanger nations.
Before 52 world leaders, among them the United States, France, and China, Mexican president Enrique Peña Nieto expressed the support of Mexico to the international efforts to avoid proliferation of nuclear weapons.
The president said that to prevent and combat nuclear terrorism requires an comprehensive and transnational approach that includes the securing maritime routes and ports, as transportation by land and air.
“Mexico shares the global concern for the threat of nuclear terrorism and expresses its strong commitment to prevent that nuclear and radioactive material from reaching the hands of non-state agents that could be used for destructive purposes,” stated Peña Nieto.
The president said that Mexico recognizes the right of all states to benefit from the peaceful use of nuclear energy, as a source of technological, economic, and social development.
He affirmed that nuclear security is a challenge that jeopardizes all nations, therefor nations should work correspondingly in building a global architecture for nuclear security, assuming commitments on nuclear disarmament, non-proliferation, and respect for states to develop nuclear energy for peaceful means.
“The mere threat of these types of weapons, on the part of any actor, generates uncertainty, tension and risks that keep us from world peace,” said the Mexican president.
Peña Nieto said that since 2012, Mexico is a country free of highly enriched uranium, having completed the conversion of its reactors for using only low enrichment uranium.
Opening the plenary session of the Summit, U.S. President Barack Obama warned that the threat of nuclear terrorism is present as groups such as the Islamic State will not hesitate to use it to harm innocent people.
President Obama announced that it will be made public the nuclear arsenal of the United States, as well as the security measures used to protect it, and noted that among the advances of the last six years are that Argentina has eliminated four kilograms of highly enriched uranium; as Latin America and the Caribbean become the second region in the world to be completely free of this material.
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