Bush, Putin announce global nuclear terror plan

ST PETERSBURG, Russia, July 15 (Reuters) US President George W Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin today announced the launch of a plan to combat the global threat of nuclear terrorism and invited other countries to join them.

''We have come up with a joint statement about the importance of fighting acts of nuclear terrorism,'' Putin told a joint news conference after meeting Bush ahead of this weekend's summit of the Group of Eight industrial nations in St Petersburg.

''In this way our countries demonstrate our common commitment to undertake the most serious measures to prevent purchases, transportation and the use of radioactive materials by terrorists,'' he said.

The joint statement by Bush and Putin said the threat of nuclear terrorism was ''one of the most dangerous international security challenges we face''.

It invited other countries to join the initiative and said they would cooperate closely with the U.N. nuclear watchdog in Vienna, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

''Interacting closely with the IAEA, we will take steps to improve participants' capabilities to ensure accounting, control and physical protection of nuclear materials and radioactive substances, as well as security of nuclear facilities,'' the statement said.

It would also work to improve the ability of countries to ''detect and suppress illicit trafficking'' of nuclear materials.

The plan aims to keep track of potential terrorists, secure nuclear materials and permit a joint response if terrorists obtain a nuclear weapon, a US official said earlier.

Participants will also work to deny safe haven to terrorists seeking to acquire or use nuclear materials, the statement said.

The United States and Russia have already been working together for years to combat the threat of nuclear terrorism.

Often in cooperation with the IAEA, Russian and US experts have secured bomb-grade atomic materials from facilities in eastern Europe.

In March 2002, the governing board of the IAEA launched the ''IAEA Action Plan'' to combat nuclear terrorism and the United States was the single biggest contributor. The agency has repeatedly warned about the threat of nuclear terrorism.

Reuters AK GC1557