Azernews.Az

By Nazrin Gadimova

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev attended the third Nuclear Security Summit, which kicked off in the Hague on March 24, AzerTag state news agency reported.

The two-day summit, aimed at preventing nuclear terrorism around the globe, brings together heads of state and government from more than 50 countries, heads of international organizations, and thousands of delegates and journalists.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte opened the Nuclear Security Summit.

"All our discussions today and tomorrow will focus on one question: how to prevent nuclear terrorism? Or to be more precise: how can we make sure that nuclear materials won't end up in the hands of terrorists and that nuclear material is used more efficiently and stored more securely," he said.

Park Geun-hye, President of the Republic of Korea, which hosted the previous Summit, said her country was ready to support efforts to ensure nuclear security on the globe.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, in turn, stressed the importance of the Summit in terms of preventing nuclear terrorism.

The Summit continued with plenary meetings.

It featured a session themed "Scenario-based policy discussion".

Later in the evening, King of the Netherlands Willem-Alexander hosted a reception and dinner for heads of state and government participating in the third Nuclear Security Summit.

President Aliyev attended the event.

Bilateral meetings

During his working visit to the Netherlands President Aliyev held several meetings.

President Aliyev has met member of the Senate of the Netherlands Rene van der Linden in the Hague.

They praised relations between Azerbaijan and the Netherlands, saying the two countries maintain successful cooperation in the fields of politics, economy, business, education and science.

The sides also hailed cooperation between Azerbaijan`s ADA University and Dutch Maastricht University.

Also, President Aliyev has met Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Yukiya Amano in the Hague.

They hailed cooperation between Azerbaijan and the IAEA as fruitful.

Amano described Azerbaijan as a reliable partner in terms of nuclear security.

He said there was good potential for expanding cooperation in the field of radioactive waste management. He praised Azerbaijan`s active participation in nuclear security-related events.

President Aliyev stressed the importance of nuclear security to Azerbaijan, the region and the world in general.

The President said Armenia`s nuclear power plant was located in an active seismic zone and was already worn out, adding it was a source of serious threat to the entire region.

During the visit, President Aliyev also met Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group - Igor Popov of the Russian Federation, Jacques Faure of France, and James Warlick of the United States of America - as well as Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk.

They discussed the current state of and prospects for peace talks over the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.