Chinese President Xi Jinping (4th L, front) poses for a group photo during the third Nuclear Security Summit in The Hague, the Netherlands, March 25, 2014. (Xinhua/Zhang Duo)
The Nuclear Security Summit (NSS) 2014 concluded in The Hague on Tuesday with a communique reached by world leaders to prevent nuclear material from falling into the hands of terrorists.
This is the third such event after the first NSS was held in Washington in 2010 and the second one was held in Seoul in 2012. A total of 58 world leaders have participated in the two-day event to seek ways to boost nuclear security around the globe.
The themes of this year's summit is to reduce the amount of dangerous nuclear material in the world, improve security of all nuclear material and radioactive sources, and step up international cooperation.
Addressing a closing press conference together with U.S. President Barack Obama, who will chair the next NSS in Washington in 2016, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said world leaders at the summit "have taken a big step" in making the world safer by preventing nuclear terrorism.
Obama hailed the progress that has been made in The Hague summit. "It was not about commitment but about concrete steps to make sure nuclear material does not fall into the hands of terrorists. That's what we have done," he said.
The final communique of the NSS 2014 represented a major step forward and a fitting follow-up to the agreements made at earlier summits in Washington and Seoul.
Leaders at the summit reaffirmed the fundamental responsibility of countries "to maintain at all times effective security" of all nuclear and other radioactive materials, including nuclear materials used in nuclear weapons, and nuclear facilities under their control, according to the communique.
The document urged countries to take appropriate measures to prevent non-state actors from obtaining such materials, emphasizing the importance of "robust national legislation and regulations" on nuclear security.
"We emphasize the need to further strengthen and coordinate international cooperation in the field of nuclear security," added the communique.
